Delhi ranks first, only 2 large states among top performers in EV list

Why in the News

NITI Aayog has released the India Electric Mobility Index (IEMI) 2025, which ranks States and Union Territories on the development of the electric mobility ecosystem and on the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs). Delhi topped the index, followed by Maharashtra and Karnataka. Those two are the only large States among the top performers, out of seventeen. The index therefore records a concentration rather than a diffusion: the territories doing best are small, dense and administratively compact, while most of the country’s population lives in States that the index places in its middle tiers.

What is the India Electric Mobility Index?

1. What it measures: It is a composite index assessing the policy framework and the implementation outcomes for electric mobility at the State level.
2. Who built it: NITI Aayog developed the index in collaboration with World Resources Institute (WRI) India.
3. Its three themes: Transport electrification progress carries 50% weight, charging infrastructure readiness 30%, and EV research and innovation status 20%.
4. Coverage: It scores all 36 States and Union Territories on a common 100 point scale.

What does the overall ranking show?

1. The spread: Composite scores range from 10 to 84, with a median of 40, so half the country sits at or below two fifths of the achievable score.
2. The leaders: Delhi scored 84, followed by Maharashtra at 78, Karnataka at 73, Chandigarh at 71 and Goa at 65.
3. Movement against the 2024 index: Delhi and Maharashtra held the top two positions, Karnataka moved to third by overtaking Chandigarh, and Goa climbed ten places to fifth.
4. The largest single gain: Madhya Pradesh moved from twenty third rank to seventh.

How have the large States performed?

1. Only two in the top tier: Maharashtra and Karnataka are the only large States among the top performers, out of seventeen large States assessed.
2. The frontrunner band: Eight large States scored between 50 and 64, namely Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
3. The emerging band: Seven large States scored between 35 and 49, namely Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Bihar, Kerala, Jharkhand, Punjab and Gujarat.
4. What the distribution implies: The States carrying the largest vehicle populations sit in the middle bands, so national electrification outcomes are decided where the index scores are weakest.

Where do the three themes diverge?

1. Transport electrification, the heaviest theme: Delhi, Chandigarh and Maharashtra were the only territories qualifying as top performers on it. It evaluates market absorption, consumer acceptance and demand side momentum, meaning how effectively electric vehicles are actually being adopted.
2. Charging readiness has a different leader: Karnataka recorded the highest score nationwide at 97, followed by Goa at 92 and Maharashtra at 91.
3. What charging readiness captures: The charger to vehicle ratio, subsidies for charging infrastructure, building bye laws for charging, and power availability.
4. Research and innovation: Delhi achieved the top score of 94 on this theme.
5. The divergence matters: A State can lead on chargers and trail on adoption, since infrastructure readiness is scored independently of vehicles actually registered.

Challenges to State led electric mobility

1. Distribution company capacity: Charging load falls on distribution utilities already carrying losses, so sanctioned load and feeder capacity cap how fast chargers can be added. Eg. Several State distribution companies carry aggregate technical and commercial losses above 20%.
   The Fix: Ring fence a concessional EV charging tariff and fund feeder upgrades from the State electric mobility policy corpus.
2. Subsidy dependence: Registrations track State and central purchase incentives and fall when a scheme window narrows. Eg. Electric two wheeler sales dipped after the FAME II demand incentive was reduced in mid 2023.
   The Fix: Shift from an upfront purchase subsidy to a road tax and registration fee waiver that runs for the life of the vehicle.
3. Geographic concentration of chargers: Chargers cluster in a few metropolitan pockets, leaving intercity corridors and smaller towns unserved. Eg. The index’s leading territories are small and dense, where covering the whole jurisdiction is far easier than across a large State.
   The Fix: Make charging points at fixed intervals a condition of national and State highway concession agreements.
4. Battery supply and end of life handling: Cells and the lithium, cobalt and nickel behind them are largely imported, and recycling capacity remains thin. Eg. India imports the overwhelming share of the lithium ion cells it consumes.
   The Fix: Enforce the recycling and extended producer responsibility targets under the Battery Waste Management Rules, 2022 alongside domestic cell manufacturing incentives.
5. Generation mix limits the climate gain: An electric vehicle’s emissions follow the electricity that charges it, so the benefit shrinks where coal dominates supply. Eg. Coal still supplies close to three quarters of India’s electricity generation.
   The Fix: Align charging tariffs to time of day slots that coincide with solar generation hours.

Conclusion

The index measures readiness, and readiness is not the same as transition. Its top ranks are held by territories small enough for a single administration to cover with chargers and incentives, which is not the problem a large State faces. The unresolved tension is that the States with the most vehicles to convert have the least fiscal room to subsidise the conversion and the weakest distribution utilities to power it. Watch whether the next edition shows movement in the frontrunner band of large States, because that band is where the national outcome is actually decided.

Back2Basics

1. World Resources Institute India: An independent research organisation working on climate, energy, cities, water and sustainable mobility, operating as the India arm of a global research body.
2. Role here: It provided the research collaboration for the composite index, including the indicator design behind the three themes.
3. Urban mobility work: It supports Indian cities on bus transport planning, road safety and electric mobility transition programmes.

Matching Previous Year Question

“The adoption of electric vehicles is rapidly growing worldwide. How do electric vehicles contribute to reducing carbon emissions and what are the key benefits they offer compared to traditional combustion engine vehicles?”