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Government notifies phased import duty hike on electric PV parts, lithium-ion cells
As part of the road map under the phased manufacturing programme (PMP), Government has notified phased increase in basic customs duty on parts of electric passenger vehicles to be assembled in India to 15% from April 2020 and 10% on imported lithium-ion cells by April 2021 to promote domestic manufacturing of EVs. The notification also entails doubling the basic customs duty on completely built units of electric buses and trucks to 50% from April 2020.
Government enhances allocation for smart cities by 7% for 2019-20
The government has allocated Rs 6,600 crore (€825 million) for the Smart Cities Mission for 2019-20, which is about 7% more as compared to Rs 6,169 crore (about €770 million) for 2018-19. Since the launch of the mission, a total of 5,151 projects worth more than Rs 2,000 billion (€25 billion) have been identified and are in various stages of implementation in 100 cities.
NITI Aayog floats model PPP concession agreement for electric buses
The government's think-tank NITI Aayog has unveiled a Model Concession Agreement (MCA) for introducing electric buses for public transportation on PPP mode on operational expenditure (per km basis) model. The Aayog stated that the model document has been developed based on international best practices to provide cleaner, more efficient, and affordable public transportation.
MNRE issued the list of BIS standards applicable for components of Solar PV applications
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued the list of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) standards which are applicable for components of solar photovoltaic (PV) applications. The list includes six products along with Indian Standard Number and the Title of Indian Standard.