India demands e-scooter makers return $60M aid for using Chinese parts

Six are being held accountable by the Indian government for breaking localization regulations, including Hero Electric Vehicles Pvt., which was once the country's largest manufacturer of e-scooters. 

A crucial source of funding is being cut off as a result of the Indian government withholding unpaid subsidies from other parties.

The uproar can be attributed to a string of e-scooter fires that occurred last year, including those involving bikes manufactured by Okinawa Autotech International Pvt. and Ola Electric Mobility Pvt., which led the government to investigate whether businesses were adhering to localization requirements for a subsidy program.

It turned out that some producers had little control over the quality of their finished goods because they were importing ready-to-use components, primarily from China, leaving consumers open to potentially fatal situations.

Ola, on the other hand, has come out of the probe mostly undamaged and is currently India's leading e-scooter manufacturer. It recently revealed ambitions to localize its supply chain even further by building an electric battery factory, and as it gets ready to go public, it secured $140 million in a round led by Singapore's Temasek Holdings Pte.

Others, however, are struggling to survive.

As the government withholds subsidies worth 12 billion rupees, Revolt Motors, Okinawa, Hero, Benling India Energy & Technology Pvt., Greaves Electric Mobility Pvt., and Amo Mobility Solutions Pvt. are losing ground and finding it difficult to draw in investors. Without the incentives, e-scooter startups lost a combined 90 billion rupees, according to the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles.