Bhavish Aggarwal, CEO and founder of Ola ElectricNew Delhi: The Centre has sought comments from Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) regarding consumer grievance complaints against Ola Electric.
"The ARAI will check and respond whether Ola Electric is complying with FAME and PM E-DRIVE guidelines," a senior official told ET that warranties also need to be provided by beneficiaries of the EV subsidy schemes.
Ola Electric did not respond to queries sent late Wednesday night.
Ola Electric is already facing complaints from consumers and a Show Cause Notice has been issued from the Central Consumer Protection Authority (CCPA), the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) said in its directive to the ARAI.
In an exchange filing earlier this week, the Bhavish Aggarwal-led company said the CCPA notice has no impact on its financial, operational or other activities, nor does it impose any penalties or fines.
FAME and PM E-DRIVE beneficiaries are required to maintain service centres for attending to consumer issues. These are the flagship electric vehicle (EV) subsidy schemes run by the centre.
The FAME ( Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of E vehicles) scheme was launched in 2015 with an outlay of ₹5,172 crore. FAME II was announced in 2019 with INR 10,000 crore budgetary support and continued for five years.
PM E-DRIVE, a third iteration of this scheme was approved by the Union Cabinet last month. During an event to mark the official launch of this new scheme, Union Heavy Industries Minister H D Kumaraswamy asked beneficiaries to strictly follow scheme rules. His comments referred to earlier instances of non-compliance that marred the implementation of FAME II.
