India-US partnership launched to boost electric bus deployment

Dubai: On the sidelines of the UN climate summit (COP28), India and the US on Saturday jointly launched a partnership for the deployment of electric buses through payment security mechanisms (PSM) that aims to unlock up to $10 billion in non-recourse lending to e-bus manufacturers in India to deploy 38,000 buses.
Under the joint collaboration to establish a PSM, India would contribute $240 million whereas $150 million would come from the US government and their partners.The establishment of the PSM will guarantee delayed payments from the fiscally constrained state bus companies.
“Decarbonization of the transport sector is essential to reduce the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to meet the ambitious target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 set by the government of India,” said environment minister Bhupender Yadav while speaking at a side event on India-US “Payment Security Mechanism (PSM)” for electric buses in India.
John Kerry, US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, also attended the event at India’s pavilion. Speaking on the occasion, he said “With PSM we are taking a major footstep towards helping India electrify its bus fleet”. He said this move was taking an Indian solution to maximize the Indian opportunity to decarbonisation transportation sector.
The concept to develop a PSM was discussed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the USA in June. The estimated requirement of PSM for 38,000 e-buses is approximately Rs 3,435 crore.