India has approved the installation of 4,874 public electric vehicle chargers under its PM E-Drive programme, with allocated funding of 503.86 crore rupees (around 44 million euros), as the country accelerates expansion of its charging infrastructure network.
The announcement was made by India’s Heavy Industries and Steel Minister during a conference on EV charging infrastructure in Bengaluru.
According to the Ministry of Heavy Industries, the approved projects include proposals submitted by state-owned fuel retailers Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), along with state governments including Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
The charger rollout forms part of the broader PM E-Drive scheme, under which the government has earmarked 2,000 crore rupees (approximately 180 million euros) specifically for public charging infrastructure.
India aims to deploy more than 72,000 public EV charging points nationwide through the programme.
Alongside the infrastructure expansion, the government is preparing a unified digital platform called Unified Bharat eCharge.
According to the ministry, the platform is intended to allow EV drivers to locate charging stations, access charging services and complete payments across multiple charging networks through a single application.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries said it is working with the Ministry of Power, state governments and private-sector companies on interoperability, grid readiness and charging standardisation as electric vehicle adoption increases.
The ministry added that future charging deployments would prioritise accessibility, affordability and operational reliability.
India is also expanding support for domestic EV manufacturing and battery supply chains through additional industrial incentive programmes.
These include the 18,100-crore-rupee production-linked incentive programme for advanced chemistry cell manufacturing and the 25,938-crore-rupee PLI-Auto scheme supporting electric vehicle and component production.
The government has also recently introduced a programme focused on rare earth permanent magnet manufacturing to strengthen local supply chains.
Under the earlier FAME-II initiative, India installed 8,932 public EV chargers.
According to ministry data released earlier this year, the country had installed 27,737 EV chargers by March 2026, although officials noted that not all charging stations were operational.
The latest approvals reflect India’s broader push to expand EV infrastructure nationwide as automakers and policymakers seek to accelerate electric mobility adoption across passenger and commercial vehicle segments.
