UNCTAD Technology and Innovation Report 2023,
Frontier Technologies Readiness and India's Position
The ranking for 166 countries is dominated by
high-income economies, notably the United States, Sweden, Singapore,
Switzerland, and the Netherlands. The second quarter of the list includes
emerging economies, notably China at 35, the Russian Federation at 31,
India at 46, South Africa at 56, and Brazil at 40. India remains the
greatest over performer ranking at 67 positions better than expected,
followed by the Philippines at 54 positions better and Vietnam at 44
better. India performs well for R&D and ICT, reflecting their abundant
supplies of qualified and highly skilled human resources available at a
comparatively low cost. The Philippines and Viet Nam have a high ranking
for industry, reflecting high levels of foreign direct investment in
high-technology manufacturing, particularly electronics.
Governments worldwide are implementing measures
to encourage the purchase of environmentally friendly products, such as the
use of feed-in tariffs to level the playing field between green energy and
fossil fuels. In India, the government has introduced the "Faster
Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles" initiative to promote
the purchase and deployment of electric vehicles and charging
infrastructure.
India's move toward electric mobility began in
2013 with the "National
Electric Mobility Mission Plan 2020" (NEMMP2020), which aimed to achieve
sales of 6-7 million electric vehicles, including 400,000 e-passenger cars,
by 2020. The government followed up on this plan with the "Faster
Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles" (FAME) scheme in 2015, which transitioned to its second phase
(FAME-II) two years later. FAME-II, which is set to end in 2022, promotes
the purchase and deployment of charging infrastructure and encourages
manufacturers to use more environmentally friendly lithium batteries rather
than lead-acid variants.
India's electric vehicle policy is spread across
three levels of authority – national, state, and city – with most laws and
regulations implemented at the state or city level. In addition to FAME,
the government supports the automobile industry through the "Make in
India" program, which offers various incentives to foreign investors such as tax
exemptions, concessions, and subsidies. The government also provides tax
incentives for research and development and implements the "Phased
Manufacturing program" (PMP), which reduces the "basic custom
duty" (BCD) for electric vehicles, assemblies, and parts to promote
the development of electro-mobility. India's auto component sector has
grown faster than the sector for complete vehicles and exports a quarter of
its production. In the last three years, it has attracted significant
investments from domestic and foreign entities such as the Japan Bank for
International Cooperation ($1 billion) and Toyota
Kirloskar Motors ($624 million) for EV components.
The electrification of the automobile sector
has allowed for the establishment of a new battery sector and has
interconnected with the existing IT sector. According to the
Indian Energy Storage Alliance, the battery market potential was $580
million in 2019 and is expected to grow to $14.9 billion by 2027. While India currently relies on importing
lithium, the
discovery of new lithium resources in 2023 could enable faster development
of the sector. In electric two and three-wheelers, the battery cost
accounts for up to half of the vehicle's price. Therefore, the government has allowed manufacturers
to sell vehicles without batteries and encouraged the development of
various battery-swapping services.
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