NEW DELHI: India’s capital New Delhi will ban new petrol- and diesel-fueled scooters and rickshaws from its roads over the next two years, as an ambitious new policy aimed at bringing down dangerously high pollution levels in the city came into effect on Wednesday.
Delhi’s new EV policy seeks to accelerate the use of electric vehicles through incentives, tax exemptions and expanded EV infrastructure, with the goal of achieving a minimum 30 percent electrification of the city’s vehicle fleet by March 2030.
“This is a historic step toward effectively controlling vehicle pollution in the capital and promoting clean transportation. The new EV Policy will come into effect from July 1, 2026, and will remain effective until March 31, 2030,” Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta wrote on X on Monday, after the Cabinet approved the 150-billion-rupee ($1.6 billion) policy.
From 2027 onwards, the city’s authorities will only issue new license plates to electric small trucks and three-wheelers, and only to electric scooters and motorbikes from 2028, effectively stopping registration of new petrol-powered versions of those vehicles.
Residents are also offered cash incentives ranging between 5,000 ($53) and 100,000 rupees ($1,050) to scrap old, polluting vehicles as well as for replacing them with electric ones, as the government pledged to establish more than 30,000 public charging points across the capital.
