Everything You Need to Know About Pakistan’s Electric Bikes Subsidy Scheme

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet today approved a summary submitted by the Ministry of Industries and Production regarding the implementation of a subsidy scheme to promote the adoption of electric bikes and rickshaws.

ProPakistani has obtained exclusive details about the subsidy scheme and how the government plans to roll it out.

An allocation of Rs. 9 billion is available in the budget for the FY26 to subsidize electric vehicles. This will be sufficient to subsidize around 116,000 electric bikes and 3,170 electric rikshaws/loaders.

In order to allow refinement through experience, scheme will be rolled out in two phases, in the first phase, 40,000 electric bikes and 1,000 electric rikshaws/loaders will be offered while remaining 76,000 electric bikes and 2,170 rikshaws/loaders will be offered in the second phase.

The basic structure of the subsidized financing scheme is as under:

• Available financing options will include Islamic financing options as well;
• Maximum loan size covered under the scheme shall be Rs. 200,000/- in case of an electric bike and Rs. 880,000/- in case of an electric rikshaw/loader;
• Allowed markup rate shall be 6 months KIBOR+2.75% with a maximum tenor of two years for electric bikes and three years for electric rikshaws/loaders;
• Government of Pakistan will provide 20% portfolio guarantee on first loss basis;
• The debit to equity ratio shall be 80:20, Government of Pakistan will provide a maximum of Rs. 50,000/- and Rs. 200,000/- as its share in equity in respect of an electric bike and rikshaw/loader respectively and also bear the entire cost of markup bringing borrower’s markup to zero;
• All citizens of Pakistan including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir (AJK) will be eligible to apply subject to age restriction given below;
• For accessing subsidy for an electric bike, a citizen shall be of an age of 18 to 65 years and in case of an electric rikshaw/loader of an age of 21 to 65 years;
• Province wise quota of electric bikes and electric rikshaws/loaders shall be in accordance with their population as per 2023 census; however, 10% quota shall be reserved for Balochistan by reducing quotas of Sindh and Punjab,
• In case of electric bikes, minimum 25% quota shall be reserved for women while maximum 10% will be reserved for persons using electric bikes for commercial purposes such as courier or delivery services;
• In case of electric rikshaws/loaders, first priority will be given to individuals, any leftover quota will be allocated to fleet operators to a maximum extent of 30%; Exact eligibility criteria for the persons using electric bikes for commercial purposes and fleet operators of electric rikshaws/loaders will be determined by the Steering Committee;
• All citizens will be allowed to obtain only one electric bike or rikshaw/loader under this scheme while the number of electric rickshaws allowed to a fleet operator will be decided by the Steering Committee;
• Applications for participation in the scheme will be invited through advertisement, and in case the applications received exceed the quota of a province or a particular segment, selection will be made through electronic balloting;
• The scheme will be delivered through an end-to-end digitalized platform which will be used for inviting applications, balloting and tracking progress;
• Only those manufacturers/assemblers that are shortlisted by the Engineering Development Board (EDB) on the basis of their technical capacity, financial strength and capability to provide after sale service in accordance with criteria approved by the Steering Committee will be eligible to participate in the scheme;
• There is a range of electric vehicles available in the market, EDB will also shortlist electric bikes and rikshaws/loaders that will be offered by shortlisted manufacturers/assemblers in accordance with quality, performance and safety criteria approved by the Steering Committee;
• Successful candidates will be free to choose from a range of shortlisted electric bikes and rikshaws/loaders, this will promote competition and best value for money for them;
• To ensure transparency, third party audit of the scheme will be carried out – this shall be in addition to the regular audit through the Auditor General of Pakistan;
• The shortlisting of manufacturers/assemblers by EDB as well as quality check of products supplied under the scheme will be subject to third party validation, procedure for quality check will be developed by the Steering Committee;
• Electric bikes and rickshaws supplied under the scheme will carry appropriate branding as approved by the Steering Committee.

Minor adjustments to the scheme, such as changes in number of electric bikes and rikshaws/loaders or quota readjustments in case a particular quota remains unutilized, may be made by the Steering Committee during its implementation while remaining within the allocated funds.