MHI is in the process of releasing subsidies to companies that have got a clean chit in these investigations and said all valid claims will be cleared by the end of the month.

The Center is considering measures to punish half a dozen electric scooter makers who have been found guilty of wrongly claiming subsidies under Flagship. fame ii (Rapid Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles) Scheme.

A senior government official said barring these companies from availing government subsidies in future as well as not allowing them to avail discounts on vehicles sold in the last 15 months were some of the steps under consideration.

Last month, the government had sent recovery notices worth about Rs 500 crore to seven companies – hero electricOkinawa Autotech, Ampere EV, Revolt Motors, Benling India, Lohia Auto and AMO Mobility – required for violation of local sourcing norms fame II To claim incentives.

Lohia is a manufacturer of 3-wheeler electrics. “This (disbarment) is one of the options being considered. We will take a final decision after recovering the dues,” a senior government official said on condition of anonymity.

Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) – the nodal ministry for the scheme – is discussing the option with other departments of the government as it impacts investment. If a company is disqualified, it will not get incentives on future sales of electric two-wheelers under the scheme and will also have to give up incentives earned on vehicles sold in the last 15 months.

Responding to a query from ET, a spokesperson for Greaves Electric Mobility, which sells the Ampere EV, said it is working with the government to better understand their concern and has filed a detailed representation in this regard. “GeM is committed to helping realize India’s ambitions to become a world leader in the development, engineering and manufacturing of electric vehicles,” he said.

AMO Mobility said most of its customers were beneficiaries of fame will put subsidy Scheme launched by the Government of India.

“We would like to bring to your attention that AMO Mobility has only received subsidy of Rs 0.85 crore and the subsidy amount given to customers so far is approximately Rs 11 crore. “We are in discussion with the agency and the ministry to resolve our issue, even if it is minor, and support us in shifting the paradigm from conventional to electric mobility in India,” a company spokesperson said. “We would like to clarify that Okinawa has not received any official communication regarding the exemption.” In the meantime, we have actively submitted all necessary documents to the relevant ministry, demonstrating our commitment to compliance,” the Okinawa spokesperson said.

Revolt Motors and Benling India did not respond to ET’s queries on the matter till press time on Monday.

The Center had suspended subsidy distribution of Rs 1,400 crore under this fame ii The vehicle testing agencies ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) and iCAT (International Center for Automotive Technology) are pending completion of inquiries into 13 companies on whether they have violated local sourcing norms by using components imported from China in their vehicles.

MHI It is in the process of releasing subsidies to companies given clean chit in these investigations and said all valid claims will be cleared by the end of the month. “We have already paid around Rs 200 crore (of stalled subsidies). We will pay most of the claims by the end of the month,” the official said.

Overall, the government has received 1,050,000 claims for incentives from companies registered under FAME II. Of this, MHI has not approved claims on 400,000 electric two-wheelers. This includes claims for sale of two-wheelers made by errant companies, claims for sale of two-wheelers in states that are not registered on the vehicle portal of the Ministry of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH), and claims for sale of two-wheelers on which questions regarding the information given (such as duplicate battery numbers, mismatch in names, etc.) have been raised by the authority.