NITI Aayog Pushes Strategic Electrification of India’s Key Freight Corridors

NITI Aayog on Monday underscored the need for strategic electrification of key freight corridors, given that 70 per cent of the country’s freight moves by road. Observing that only around 800 heavy-duty electric trucks were sold in 2025, Rajiv Gauba, Member, NITI Aayog, called for blended finance mechanisms, leasing models, and stronger data systems to bring the cost of capital for electric trucks closer to diesel equivalents.

Delivering the inaugural address at the 5th ‘E-Fast India Summit 2026,’ he marked a significant milestone in India's clean mobility journey with the launch of the Platform for Aggregating Clean Transport (PACT) and the Zero Emission Truck (ZET) Marketplace. He called upon logistics providers, manufacturers, charge point operators and financiers to engage with the platform in shaping the corridors, financing instruments and commercial models that will define electric freight in India.

Gauba noted that e-FAST has evolved over four years from a forum for dialogue into a vehicle of coordinated action, mirroring the shift in India's clean mobility discourse from intent to implementation. According to a NITI Aayog statement, Gauba emphasised that transitioning to electric mobility is an economic, environmental, and strategic imperative essential for achieving the global commitment of Net Zero by 2070 and realising the vision of Viksit Bharat by 2047.

He also highlighted that accelerating electric vehicle adoption is vital for the nation's energy security and improving citizens’ quality of living. Moreover, Gauba outlined the progress achieved through government initiatives including the PLI schemes for automobiles and advanced chemistry cells, expansion of public charging infrastructure owing to investments made by the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs), and demand-side schemes such as FAME, PM e-DRIVE, PARIVARTAN and PM e-Bus Sewa, supporting a rise in EV sales.

Gauba noted that while heavy trucks represent only 3-4 per cent of the vehicle fleet, they contribute to over a third of transport-sector carbon emissions. He also identified structural fragmentation among logistics operators, high financing costs, and the absence of coordinated corridor planning as the key constraints holding back the market, noting that PACT and the ZET Marketplace have been designed to close precisely this gap through demand aggregation, financing innovation and corridor-based projectization.

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