But it’s only a glimmer.
Some electric vehicle firms, especially makers of two-wheelers, are betting big, but the demand is lukewarm for cars and commercial vehicles like lorries.
Electric vehicles will also cut emissions as pressure ratchets up for India, the world’s third-largest carbon emitter, to set more ambitious climate goals ahead of the COP26 summit in November.
In 2017, India’s Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said he wanted only electric vehicles on Indian roads by the end of 2030 – an impossible target that he has since revised.
The good news is two and three-wheelers are well on their way to that target – electric alternatives already account for nearly half the sales in both categories this financial year, according to CEEW.
India sold about 17.4 million two-wheelers and just 2.7 million cars in 2019-20, according to the Society of Automobile Manufacturers.
It’s why Maruti, India’s biggest car maker, has made no move to launch an electric car, saying the prices are still too high.
More foreign firms may arrive when the Indian market for electric cars expands, said Puneet Gupta, the head auto sector analyst at IHS Markit.
But sales are rising.
The firm just announced a $2bn investment in electric vehicles – this was after it raised $1bn from an Abu Dhabi holding company and TPG Rise, a San Francisco-based climate fund.
But as the so-called revolution grows, other challenges will crop up – India still relies on imported batteries, mostly from China, and that’s a hurdle for an energy secure future.