Ather CEO Mehta bats for including electric two-wheeler startups under PLI scheme

Mehta said new-age EV companies have emerged as industry leaders in innovation, technology, volumes and market share over the past decade, and were now investing hundreds, and even thousands of crores in fresh manufacturing capacity, in line with the PLIs stated objectives.

Ather Energy CEO Tarun Mehta on Thursday made a strong pitch for including electric two-wheeler startups under the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, expressing surprise over policymakers' resistance to extending support to new-age EV manufacturers. In a post on X, Mehta said current eligibility norms place emerging EV makers at a 13-16 per cent cost disadvantage relative to incumbents, and called for a ''calibration'' of the scheme rather than a complete overhaul. ''I have had the opportunity to engage with several policy makers on the topic of Auto PLI, excluding startups, and I just can't believe that they would think so,'' he said, arguing that the framing of the scheme needs to stay aligned with where the Indian EV market is today. Mehta said new-age EV companies have emerged as industry leaders in innovation, technology, volumes and market share over the past decade, and were now investing hundreds, and even thousands of crores in fresh manufacturing capacity, in line with the PLI's stated objectives. Citing Ather's own investments, he said the company has employed over 4,000 people directly and tens of thousands indirectly across its dealer network and supply chain. Ather has committed Rs 2,000 crore towards a greenfield facility in Maharashtra, in addition to earlier capex and R&D outlays running into thousands of crore. ''This is literally what PLI was hoping as an outcome and is being realised by a non-PLI holder, against all odds,'' he said. On domestic value addition (DVA), a key compliance metric under the scheme, Mehta said benchmarks were similar for PLI and non-PLI players, and that startups had consistently met or exceeded localisation requirements. Much of the work on indigenous platforms, battery systems and software is happening within electric-first companies. Mehta cautioned that an EV policy architecture defining champions primarily through legacy scale, and not scale within the EV industry, could create an ''unintended imbalance and shape how the market evolves over the long term. He suggested that more flexible PLI eligibility, tied to localisation and R&D intensity rather than legacy scale benchmarks, would help build long-term capability instead of near-term scale. Ather Energy was listed on the bourses earlier this year.