Union Minister Nitin Gadkari claimed on Friday that India may overtake all other automakers in the electric car market if it can make use of the recently discovered lithium reserve in Jammu and Kashmir. The road, transport, and highway minister said there was a need to promote public transportation and that electric buses were the way of the future while speaking at an event hosted by the business organisation CII. In order to make the batteries that power electric vehicles, lithium is an essential component.
"Every year, we import 1,200 tonnes of lithium. Now, in Jammu and Kashmir, we got lithium. (If) we can use this lithium-ion, we will be the number one automobile manufacturing country in the world," he said.
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India has beaten Japan to become the third largest vehicle market in 2022 after China and the USA. According to Gadkari, presently India's automobile industry is worth Rs 7.5 lakh crore, and the sector's contribution to the overall GST revenue is maximum.
The estimated 5.9-million tonne reserve of lithium, a crucial mineral for the manufacturing of electric vehicles and solar panels, had been discovered in the Reasi district by the Geological Survey of India (GSI).
"Lithium falls in the critical resource category, which was not earlier available in India and we were dependent on its 100 percent import. The G3 (advanced) study of the GSI shows the presence of best quality lithium in abundant quantity in the foothills of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine at Salal village (Reasi)," J&K mining secretary Amit Sharma told PTI.
Gadkari noted that good infrastructure is needed for the development of any country. "With our innovative approach, we can develop the backward area, increase the growth and at the same time create employment potential," he said. The minister also asked industry leaders to invest in vehicle scrapping. Gadkari also stressed the need of reducing India's logistics cost to single digits by 2024 from 16 percent of GDP presently.
With PTI Inputs
