India’s Green Mobility Vision: Driving the Future of Sustainable Transport

The mobility ecosystem is fast changing, and it requires not only a transformation but integration that is sustainable, affordable and accessible. 

In alignment with this evolving landscape, India’s Green Mobility Vision is mainly driven by the PM E-DRIVE Scheme. The initiative aims to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) and promote mass mobility through the support of public transportation systems. Its implementation is carried out through subsidies, grants for creation of capital assets like charging stations and IEC (Information, Education & Communication) activities. Building on this, the government recently announced a first-of-its-kind direct support for electric trucks to drive our nation toward sustainable freight mobility. 

Launched in 2014, the Make in India initiative has also transformed India’s automobile industry by accelerating electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing. India currently has a 6.6% market penetration for EVs and the sector is predicted to record a growth of USD 113.99 billion in 2029. On the other hand, Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME) Scheme has been crucial for incentivising both demand and supply side of EVs and advancing towards net zero emissions by 2070. 

Key Enablers 

A critical component of this vision is increased adoption of green fuels, supported by the National Policy on Biofuels and Nation Green Hydrogen Mission. The biofuel policy aims to achieve 20% blending of ethanol in petrol by 2025-26. By achieving E20, India not only comes closer to cleaner transport, but also reduced oil export dependency, reduced trade deficit and energy security. Similarly, hydrogen fuelled long-haul automobiles and marine vessels can enable decarbonisation of the mobility sector

The Green Mobility Vision is enabled by Bharatmala Pariyojana- a mega plan to improve road infrastructure in India. The National Highway network has grown by 60% from 91,287 km in 2014, while National High-Speed Corridors increased from 93 km in 2014 to 2,474 km in 2024. This rapid infrastructure growth has simplified inter-state and intra-state travel and freight movement, creating a foundation for efficient, low-emission transportation and accelerated adoption of mobility solutions. 

Taking cue from the Prime Minister’s vision of 7Cs – Common, Connected, Convenient, Congestion-free, Charged, Clean and Cutting-edge, the Confederation of Indian Industry recently launched a Coalition on Future Mobility. The Coalition will follow the vision of clean and sustainable mobility solutions that help in bringing down logistics costs and emissions, reduce fossil fuel dependency and ensure an efficient, future-ready mobility network.

The Journey Ahead 

Mobility solutions should be integrated into urban planning in light of rapid urbanisation. Tier- I and II cities that are still greenfield must not follow the development path of megacities as they did not foresee the challenge of accommodating large population, demands of mobility and its environmental costs. There is also a need to integrate various modes of transport and its payment systems to increase the ridership. This can be done through technology and digitisation that are not just hardware focused, but software driven as well. By planning ahead, urbanisation efforts can merge cutting-edge technology and mobility-conscious consumers for smarter and future-ready cities. 

India should also work on developing a robust R&D system for indigenisation of products and design to overcome the challenges of critical minerals and Li-ion resources. Leveraging its demographic dividend, growing domestic market and growing service sector is also an advantage that should be exploited as a stepping stone for global mobility solutions. 

To achieve the Green Mobility Vision of India, the industry needs to come together and build on ideas to reduce congestion, increase last and first mile connectivity and reduce pollution arising from them. The industry also has to partner with the government to work on hard-to-abate sectors and decarbonisation across the entire value chain.