Seeking to accelerate green mobility, India’s EV manufacturers are urging Tamil Nadu to extend its 100% road tax waiver.
As Tamil Nadu’s 100 percent road tax exemption for electric vehicles (EVs) nears its 2025 expiry, industry leaders and experts are urging the state government to extend the crucial incentive to sustain adoption momentum and support local manufacturing.
Introduced under the Tamil Nadu Electric Vehicle Policy 2019 and extended once from 2022 to 2025, the tax waiver along with registration and permit fee exemptions has played a key role in lowering the upfront cost of EVs, which remain higher than internal combustion engine vehicles.
“One of the main deterrents for EV buyers is the higher initial cost. The tax and registration exemptions offset a major portion of that, helping adoption significantly,” said Karthikeyan Palanisamy, CEO of Zeon Charging. He noted that Tamil Nadu’s EV adoption rate of 7.5 percent, though improving, still trails the national average of 8.5 percent.
Ragavendra Ravichandran, Co-founder of Plugzmart, suggested that a five-year extension, followed by a gradual phase-out, would ensure steady growth while giving local manufacturing and charging infrastructure time to mature.
Thiru Srinivasan, Senior Advisor, EV Sector, FaMe TN, added that maintaining such incentives would not heavily strain state finances and could be adjusted to lower percentages if needed.
Tamil Nadu recorded over 0.14 million EV registrations between January and October 2025, up sharply from 3,500 in 2019, underscoring the policy’s success.
Experts propose that incentives remain until the state achieves a 20 percent EV adoption target, as several other states including Telangana, Odisha, and Kerala continue similar programs to boost EV penetration.
