Unified Bharat e-Charge App Coming Soon to Boost EV Charging Infrastructure Across India

Union Minister of Heavy Industries HD Kumaraswamy on Tuesday announced that the government is working on a new pan-India EV charging app called Unified Bharat e-Charge (UBC). It is intended to help EV users locate available chargers and pay for what they consume across the networks of multiple operators, via a single interface. The minister compared its potential to strengthen the charging ecosystem with the impact of UPI on digital payments.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries will work with the Ministry of Power as well as state governments and industry players to ensure grid readiness, standardisation and digital integration, anticipating rapid growth in electric mobility across India. Kumaraswamy said EV charging infrastructure and strategy needs to be accessible, affordable, and reliable across rural as well as urban parts of India.

The minister made these comments at the National Conference on Enabling Nationwide EV Charging Infrastructure under PM E-Drive Scheme, held in Bengaluru on Tuesday. He also spoke about the progress of other initiatives to promote electrification across the Indian automotive sector, saying the government is committed to establishing a modern, reliable EV charging ecosystem. He reiterated the importance of electrification in achieving the government’s Viksit Bharat 2047 and Net Zero 2070 policy goals.

So far, approvals to install 4,874 EV chargers worth ₹503.86 crore in various parts of India have been granted to several major public-sector units such as HPCL, IOCL and BPCL, along with the state governments of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Telangana, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu. Petroleum companies have already installed 8,932 EV chargers across the country using ₹873.5 crore in subsidies issued by the Ministry of Heavy Industries under the FAME-II scheme.

The minister also announced an allocation of ₹123.26 crore to set up 1,243 EV chargers in Karnataka, to serve all types of electric vehicles from bikes to trucks.

Kumaraswamy said India’s automotive sector contributes over 7 percent of India’s GDP, which is nearly half of its total manufacturing GDP, and supports close to 30 million jobs, making it central to India’s clean mobility transition.

The ministry is supporting this industry and promoting manufacturing with its ₹18,100 crore PLI ACC scheme for battery cell manufacturing, ₹25,938 crore PLI Auto scheme for cleaner vehicles, and ₹7,280 crore REPM scheme to boost domestic rare earth material production.