Buyers can avail a discount of ₹2-9 lakh on the purchase of a medium or heavy electric truck under the PM E-Drive scheme by providing scrapping certificates for multiple diesel trucks, the ministry of heavy industries has clarified.
The scheme mandates that scrapping certificates, also known as certificates of deposit (CDs), must be provided before claiming incentives. Mint explains this quid pro quo to reduce India’s reliance on carbon-heavy road freight, which makes up a third of the country’s total transport sector greenhouse gas emissions.
What is the clarification for vehicle scrapping under the PM E-Drive scheme?
On 27 February, a statement from the ministry of heavy industries clarified that incentives for new trucks can be granted against one or more valid scrapping certificates for diesel trucks, provided the gross vehicle weight (GVW) of the diesel trucks is higher.
The ministry also explained with examples. It said the subsidy for a 55-tonne e-truck could be claimed using CDs for two diesel trucks with GVW 28 tonnes each, or three diesel trucks with GVW 18.5 tonnes each, or even a diesel truck of GVW 28 tonnes, another of GVW 15 tonne and a third truck of GVW 12 tonnes each.
Therefore, CDs for multiple trucks can be submitted to claim incentives under this scheme.
What is the vehicle scrapping requirement under the PM E-Drive scheme?
The ₹10,900-crore scheme is the government’s first-ever attempt to incentivise the rollout of . The government allocated ₹500 crore towards subsidies for 5,500 e-trucks under the scheme. But it comes with a rider.
Buyers ofhave to provide a CD to claim a subsidy on their purchase. This means they have to scrap an existing diesel truck in a government-run scrapping facility, the Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF), and use it to claim incentives.
The CD must be for a truck with a gross vehicle weight (GVW) equal to or greater than the truck’s CD, and buyers can even purchase a CD on a government portal for end-of-life vehicles.
Simply put, scrapping a diesel truck will get you a cheaper e-truck.
How is India’s scrapping landscape?
India has 197 RVSFs authorized by the ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH), where diesel truck owners, among others, can scrap their vehicles. According to the government’s Vahan portal, these scrapping centres generated 163,524 CDs in 2025, nearly 3.5 times the 46,446 CDs generated the year before.
But scrapping has been an issue with e-trucks. Mint reported in September that even after two months of announcing the quid pro quo, interest in scrapping diesel trucks to claim incentives was low.
In August, 73 e-trucks were sold, a sudden jump from previous months. But none of these trucks was subsidised under the scheme, with industry stakeholders stating that truck scrapping was an issue, Mint reported on 7 September.
How have e-truck subsidies fared in recent months?
No e-trucks have been subsidized under the scheme yet, and only one manufacturer, Montra Electric, a part of the Murugappa Group, has received localisation approvals for an e-truck.
This comes as e-truck sales have risen. Sales of electric heavy and medium goods vehicles, subsidized under the , grew 152% to 566 units in 2025, according to data from the Vahan portal.
Domain experts said the number of high-tonnage trucks was introduced only in 2018 and is therefore limited. “As a result, there are limited vehicles in this segment that are genuinely ready for scrapping,” said Amit Bhatt, India managing director of the International Council on Clean Transportation, a global think tank.
“In this context, MHI’s move to allow aggregation of trucks to meet the required GVW threshold is a pragmatic step. At the same time, given that electric trucks are still at a nascent stage, it would be useful to consider allowing flexibility across comparable segments. For instance, permitting any truck within the N2 or N3 categories to be scrapped in order to avail equivalent incentives could help accelerate early adoption,” he said.
N2 and N3 trucks correspond to medium and heavy goods vehicles, respectively, and are the two categories of e-trucks subsidised under the PM E-Drive scheme.
