The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Madurai News : Call to give subsidy to electric scooters

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Friday, Jun 26, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Madurai

Call to give subsidy to electric scooters

Staff Reporter

e-scooters launched in Madurai

MADURAI: BSA Motors, a strategic business unit of Tube Investments of India (TII), has requested Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah to provide subsidy/rebate for eco-friendly electric scooters. TII is part of the US $ 3 billion (Rs. 15,646 crore) Murugappa Group.

The company has also called for reducing value added tax (VAT) imposed by State Governments to 4 per cent across the country. Tamil Nadu levies 12 per cent VAT on e-scooters, said S. Krishnaswamy, general manager (sales and marketing), BSA eScooter.

Addressing the media during the launching of five models of BSA Motors’ e-scooters here on Wednesday, he said that the e-scooter models had been designed for people as young as 13 years to families, working men and women.

The ‘Smile’ model does not need licence or registration and could be driven even by school-goers. The company had invested around Rs. 200 million in research and development and these models were only the initial ones, he said.

The company was also planning to open 136 new dealerships by the current financial year, including 45 in south India, said Mr. Krishnaswamy.

Speaking earlier, L. Ramkumar, managing director, TII, said that while the company had sold around 2,000 scooters in the last eight months since launch, it hoped to sell around 20,000 in the current financial year.

The impact of the economic recession was also beginning to ease and orders, which had dipped from October to December, had begun to pick up by April. He also expressed hope of some incentives from the upcoming union Budget.

They also opened BSA Motors showroom at Theni Road near here later in the day.

The prices of the five models ranged from Rs. 28,000 to Rs. 35,000 and their top speed varies from 25 km/h to 45 km/h.

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