Electric scooters on display at Bengaluru. Indian banks are reluctant to finance EVs. EPA
Electric scooters on display at Bengaluru. Indian banks are reluctant to finance EVs. EPA
Electric scooters on display at Bengaluru. Indian banks are reluctant to finance EVs. EPA
Electric scooters on display at Bengaluru. Indian banks are reluctant to finance EVs. EPA

India and World Bank in talks to boost financing for electric vehicles


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India’s government and the World Bank are in talks to introduce a risk-sharing mechanism to compensate banks giving loans for electric vehicle purchases, an official said, as the country seeks to decarbonise the transport sector.

The risk instrument will help banks hedge against loan defaults and cut the cost of financing EVs, India’s Group of 20 sherpa Amitabh Kant said on the sidelines of an industry event in New Delhi.

Mr Kant was chief executive of government think tank NITI Aayog until June this year, spearheading state policy decisions across the economy.

The switch to clean transport in the South Asian nation is slower than in the US and China in part due to the sluggish adoption of battery-powered vehicles.

The high cost of these vehicles and insufficient charging stations are major barriers, with BloombergNEF saying that by 2040, 53 per cent of new car sales in India will be electric, well behind China at 77 per cent.

Banks in India have been reluctant to give loans for EV purchases at a time when the cost of insuring these vehicles is high and the resale market remains small, said Mr Kant, who was recently appointed India’s main negotiator when it becomes the chair of the G20 countries in December.

The World Bank will set up a $1 billion fund with an Indian bank that will be made available to all financial institutions, a senior NITI Aayog official working on the project said.

The fund will provide first-loss guarantees to lenders in case of loan defaults, said the official, who declined to be named as discussions are still private.

An India representative for the World Bank did not respond to calls and an email seeking comment.

India has been pushing to decarbonise its transport sector, which accounts for 13.5 per cent of the country’s total emissions, as it looks to achieve its goal of becoming net carbon zero by 2070.

The government expects investments in the Indian EV industry to more than triple to $20bn by 2030, from $6bn in 2021.

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
How to help

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The years Ramadan fell in May

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The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE. 

Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

 

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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Director: Amith Krishnan

Rating: 3.5/5

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Company profile

Name: Tratok Portal

Founded: 2017

Based: UAE

Sector: Travel & tourism

Size: 36 employees

Funding: Privately funded

The burning issue

The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.

Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins

Read part two: how climate change drove the race for an alternative 

Read part one: how cars came to the UAE

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

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3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

The years Ramadan fell in May

1987

1954

1921

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Farage on Muslim Brotherhood

Nigel Farage told Reform's annual conference that the party will proscribe the Muslim Brotherhood if he becomes Prime Minister.
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It is 10 years since a ground-breaking report into the Muslim Brotherhood by Sir John Jenkins.
Among the former diplomat's findings was an assessment that “the use of extreme violence in the pursuit of the perfect Islamic society” has “never been institutionally disowned” by the movement.
The prime minister at the time, David Cameron, who commissioned the report, said membership or association with the Muslim Brotherhood was a "possible indicator of extremism" but it would not be banned.

MATCH INFO

Champions League quarter-final, first leg

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City, Tuesday, 11pm (UAE)

Matches can be watched on BeIN Sports

ETFs explained

Exhchange traded funds are bought and sold like shares, but operate as index-tracking funds, passively following their chosen indices, such as the S&P 500, FTSE 100 and the FTSE All World, plus a vast range of smaller exchanges and commodities, such as gold, silver, copper sugar, coffee and oil.

ETFs have zero upfront fees and annual charges as low as 0.07 per cent a year, which means you get to keep more of your returns, as actively managed funds can charge as much as 1.5 per cent a year.

There are thousands to choose from, with the five biggest providers BlackRock’s iShares range, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisors SPDR ETFs, Deutsche Bank AWM X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.

Bawaal%20
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Top pick: National Commercial Bank

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Analyst: Chiradeep Ghosh of Sico Bank

Top pick: Arab National Bank

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Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad. 

Profile box

Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
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HOW DO SIM CARD SCAMS WORK?

Sim swap frauds are a form of identity theft.

They involve criminals conning mobile phone operators into issuing them with replacement Sim cards, often by claiming their phone has been lost or stolen 

They use the victim's personal details - obtained through criminal methods - to convince such companies of their identity.

The criminal can then access any online service that requires security codes to be sent to a user's mobile phone, such as banking services.

The five pillars of Islam

1. Fasting

2. Prayer

3. Hajj

4. Shahada

5. Zakat 

Banned items
Dubai Police has also issued a list of banned items at the ground on Sunday. These include:
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  • Bikes, skateboards or scooters
TOURNAMENT INFO

Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier

Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November

UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi

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Updated: September 21, 2022, 4:30 AM`