Hi Friends,

Even as I launch this today ( my 80th Birthday ), I realize that there is yet so much to say and do. There is just no time to look back, no time to wonder,"Will anyone read these pages?"

With regards,
Hemen Parekh
27 June 2013

Now as I approach my 90th birthday ( 27 June 2023 ) , I invite you to visit my Digital Avatar ( www.hemenparekh.ai ) – and continue chatting with me , even when I am no more here physically

Tuesday, 20 October 2020

Sad : to be proven right

 


 

FAME II was launched under National E Mobility Mission Plan [ NEMP – 2012 ]

 

It was to cover period > April 2019 – March 2022 ( 3 years )

 

It had very modest targets re production / sale of Electric Vehicles, for which a provision of Rs 8596 crore was made towards “ subsidies “ to buyers purchasing EVs

 

Nearly one-and-half year ( half of cover period ) is over and the “ Actual Achievements “ are heart-breaking ( for want of a better word and in order not to blame any particular person/s )

 

I did envisage the likely problems – as also some “ Course Corrections “ required, and sent following e-mail to Policy Makers :

 

FAME II > FAME III > FAME IV …………………………….[ 05 March 2019 ]

 

In that e-mail , I had made some “ guestimates “ of the number of EVs that might get sold, in each of those 3 years .

 

Following is  a tabulation from my above-mentioned blog / email ( except for the last column which I inserted today, based on following news report that appeared in Economic Times of 20th Oct ) :

 

FAME II Scheme for EVs far away from its destination

 

Extract :

 

Ø  The number of vehicles subsidized from April 2019 till the end of last month was fewer than 2 % of the target for the scheme period , government data showed

 

Ø  FAME II …has a budget of Rs 8596 crore for giving subsidies alone, but just Rs 77.3 crore or less than 1 % of that was spent till the end of September

 

Ø  These regulations made the EVs pricier than imported vehicles even after the subsidies

 

 

Ø  800+ New stores set up in 2019 sold cheaper EVs imported from China

 

 

 

 

Type of Veh

17-18(Actual)

18-19(Est)

19-20(Est)

20-21(Est)

3yr total(E)

3yr Target

%age likely

Actual Achieved till Sept 2020

Buses

200

500

750

1000

2,250

7090

32

 

Cars ( Hy )

Nil

500

1,000

2,000

3,500

20,000

17.5

 

Cars ( E )

1,200

3,000

5,000

7,000

15,000

35,000

43

 1,295( 2.35 %)

3 Wheelers

excluding E - Ricks with less than 5 KWh battery )

132,000

( all sold were under 5 kwh battery, which do not qualify for subsidy )

10,000

with battery bigger than 5 KWh )

15,000

25,000

50,000

500,000

10

 6,836

 

 ( 1.36 % )

2 Wheeler

58,400

75,000

100,000

125,000

300,000

1,000,000

30

 21,727

 ( 2.17 % )

 

In my e-mail, I listed following “ Shortcomings “ of FAME II :

 

#     It focuses solely on “ Incentivizing the Buyers “ through subsidies

 

 #    There are no “ Incentives “ for the vehicle manufacturers to ramp up

       production or commercialize “ cost reducing “ technologies, especially in the

      matter of Lithium-ion batteries which constitute up to 40 % of EV ex-factory

       price

              

 #    There are no “ dis-incentives “ for manufacture / sale / purchase of Petrol – 

       Diesel vehicles

  

#    Linking the subsidy amounts with battery size is not the right method. In fact

      a vehicle with a smaller size battery, but giving same performance ( speed –

      range – charging time etc ) as a vehicle with a bigger battery, should be

      rewarded with higher subsidy !

            

      Efficient use of input resources must be encouraged

 

  #    There is no directive with regard to scrapping of old ( more than 10 years )

       petrol / diesel vehicles 

 

And that e-mail also included following suggestions to accelerate adoption of EVs :

===================================================

[ A ]….. MANUFACTURERS

 

 

           ( A.1 ) Policy Instrument >  Corporate Income Tax  for  Incentivizing the

                      manufacturers of Batteries

 

                     Total exemption of Corporate Income Tax for companies exclusively

                     engaged in the manufacture of :

 

 

                    #  Aluminium-Air Batteries  (  No need for any roadside battery 

                         charging stations  ! )

               #  Sodium-ion  Batteries   (  Reduce battery cost to 10 % of Lithium-

                    ion Battery cost ! )

                    #   Fuel Cell ( based on hydrolysis ) developed by  CECRI  (  literally 

                         FREE electricity and zero pollution )

                         

                    #   Other developments in fast-charging batteries ( under 5 minutes

                         for 80 % charge )

 

           A.2 )  Abolish Corporate Income Tax ( for 10 years ) for the entire E

                    Mobility Eco-System


          ( A.3 )  Incentivizing the E Vehicle manufacturers

                     #  E Cars having Solar Rooftop powering a small Li-ion Battery

 

                      #  Policy Instrument  >  Carbon Credits

 

                   Based on car specifications / assumed average monthly usage  etc ,

                   figure out and fix,

 

                   *  " Carbon Credits " for each model of electric car manufactured

 

                   *   Based on Carbon Credits earned , calculate Direct Transfer of 

                        Benefit ( DTB ) to electric  car manufacturers based on monthly

                        dispatches of each model and then transfer these amounts from

                        EVFF ( Electric Vehicle Finance Fund ) , as incentives to 

                        manufacturers 

 

                                       

                                

     ( A.4 )   Dis-incentivize manufacturers for production of Petrol / Diesel

                 vehicles

               This could be achieved by gradually raising the GST rate for such

                vehicles, starting from April 2022 and simultaneously gradual 

                   reduction in the GST rate for Electric vehicles

               

   ( A.5 )  Incentivizing manufacturers to get into the “ Recycling of Old Vehicles “

              By ordering to stop usage of old vehicles in Delhi, already a serious

              problem has arisen in respect of  their storage and disposal . When

              applied on all-India basis, this could lead to millions of old vehicles

              getting “ abandoned “ and cluttering the city-scape

              

=================================================

[  B  ]   BUYERS

           ( B.1 )  Incentivize for purchase of E Vehicles – especially, leasing of buses

                       Provide depreciation to private individual buyers

           ( B.2 )  Incentivize Retro-fitting of old Petrol / Diesel vehicles ( non-

                      compliant with BS VI norms )

                      Give subsidies to “Current Owners of Old Vehicles “ at 150 % of

                      subsidies announced under FAME II

           ( B.3 )  Incentivize to switch-over to E Bikes

           ( B.4 )  Policy Instrument  >  Taxing all Vehicles based on their “ Harm 

                      Quotient “ for environment

                      Dis-incentivize purchase of Petrol / Diesel vehicles

==============================================

[  C  ]   GOVERNMENT

           ( C.1 )  P0licy Instrument  >   Wet Leasing

==============================================

[   D  ]   PASSENGERS OF  PUBLIC  TRANSPORT ( Non-Vehicle Owners )

 

            For taxis / rickshaws running on Hybrid fuel ( producing less Co2 ) or

            Electric Vehicles ( zero emission ) ,both , the driver and the passenger will

            get " Carbon Credits " , which will also get displayed on the DigiMet as

            also on the FareCalc  Mobile App on the smart phone of the passenger ( @

            20 % of the fare payable ? )

            

                            

            These amounts will get transferred to their respective Jan Dhan Bank

            Accounts ( thru DTB ) , every quarter

==============================================

[  E  ]   SOLAR  POWER  for  ELECTRIC  VEHICLES

 

           Policy  Instrument  >  Amendment to Electricity Act

 

          Anyone can generate and SELL electricity , anytime and to anyone and

          at any price !

==============================================

 

Policy-makers interested in details of each of the above-mentioned suggestions , may look up :

 FAME II > FAME III > FAME IV …………………………….[ 05 March 2019 ]

 

===================================================

Dear Shri Nitin Gadkariji / Shri Piyush Goyalji / Shri R K Singhji,

 

It is not as yet, too late to    salvage    FAME II , from being an ignominious chapter of

  India’s EV journey into a tunnel of Darkness “

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  21 Oct 2020

A Small Display of Willingness ?

 


 

 

[ ala : a small step for man / a big step for mankind ]


Over the past 3 years, I have sent many emails to our Policy Makers, describing in considerable details :

 “ How to get Big Tech Social Media / E Com portals to directly pay their Users selling their data to advertising companies or using that data for increasing their own sales “

 

Although , now and then , someone in high position makes muted noises about the validity / logic of my suggestion , it seems AMAZON has realized the inevitability of this and made a small beginning to “  Compensate User “ for their PERSONAL / PRIVATE DATA ( purchase-history, in this case  )


Here is that news :

Amazon launches a program to pay consumers for their data on non-Amazon purchases  /  Tech Crunch / 20 Oct


 

Extract :

 

Ø  Amazon  has launched a new program that directly pays consumers for information about what they’re purchasing outside of Amazon.com and for responding to short surveys.

 

Ø  The program, Amazon Shopper Panel, asks users to send in 10 receipts per month for any purchases made at non-Amazon retailers, including grocery stores, department stores, drug stores and entertainment outlets (if open), like movie theaters, theme parks and restaurants.

 

Ø  Program participants will take advantage of the newly launched Amazon Shopper Panel mobile app on iOS and Android to take pictures of paper receipts that qualify or they can opt to forward emailed receipts to receipts@panel.amazon.com to earn a $10 reward that can then be applied to their Amazon Balance or used as a charitable donation.

 

 

Ø  Amazon says users can then earn additional rewards each month for every survey they complete.

 

Ø  The optional surveys will ask about brands and products that may interest the participant and how likely they are to purchase a product. Other surveys may ask what the shopper thinks of an ad. These rewards may vary, depending on the survey.

 

Ø  Amazon claims it will delete any sensitive information from the receipts users upload, like prescription information. But it doesn’t delete users’ personal information, instead storing it in accordance with its existing Privacy Policy. It will allow users to delete their previously uploaded receipts, if they choose.

=========================================================

 

  Dear Shri RaviShankar Prasadji,

 

It will take years for 140 OECD member countries to reach any consensus on “ taxing “ Big Tech


And what is the point of being able to collect Rs 10,000 Cr worth tax ( after 5 years of litigation ) – and then being able to use it for Social Welfare measures ?


My following suggestion , when implemented , will earn 400 million Indian Users of GAFA , Rs 30,000 per month , deposited directly into their Jan Dhan Bank accounts

 

Please, do NOT lose any time to implement :

SARAL Single Authentic Registration for Anywhere  Login )[ 10 Feb 2019 ]

Digital Dividend from Demographic Data [ 4 D ]…………..... ..[ 14 Feb 2019 ]


Related Readings :

The Hidden Agenda of Tech Giants Gatekeepers …………[ 17 Oct 2020 ]

 

If Google must pay Publishers, Why not pay Users ?......[ 12 Oct 2020 ]

GAFA ( aka Monopoly V 2.0 ? ) ……………………………………….[ 30 Sept 2020 ]

 A Greed-Ship named Facebook ……………………………………….[ 21 Sept 2020 ]

 Time for the Next Step …………………………………………………….[ 15 Sept 2020 ]

 Only Answer : a Statutory Warning…………………………………..[ 10 Nov 2018 ]


Nostradamus could have said ? 


Contract for the Web  


Internet Bill of Rights  


Tim Berners-Lee Speaks 


A Matter of Motive 


Privacy  For  Sale 


Right to Sell My Soul ?  




Data Privacy Law : a Pandora’s Box ? 


Wealth of Nations 

===================================================

With regards,

Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  21 Oct 2020