India Orders E-Scooter Makers To Return $60 Million For Using Chinese Parts

When India made a concerted effort to promote green transportation in the world's largest two-wheeler market, numerous electric scooter startups quickly emerged.

It was revealed that some manufacturers were importing ready-to-use parts, primarily from China. I Photo: Hero Electric

Now, many of these startups are falling out of favor due to their reliance on Chinese parts rather than locally sourced components. Ragini Saxena and Preeti Singh reported this for Bloomberg News.

The Indian government is demanding that six companies, including Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt, which was once India's leading e-scooter manufacturer, return 5 billion rupees ($60 million) in subsidies due to their violation of localization rules.

It has also withheld unpaid subsidies from other companies, which has disrupted a much-needed source of capital.

This situation can be traced back to last year when a series of e-scooter fires, including those from Okinawa Autotech International Pvt and Ola Electric Mobility Pvt, prompted the government to investigate whether companies were adhering to localization norms.

It was revealed that some manufacturers were importing ready-to-use parts, primarily from China, which left them with little control over the quality of their end products and left customers vulnerable to life-threatening incidents.

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