Climate Policy Engagement Analysis
Climate Lobbying Overview: The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) appears to engage with both positive and negative positions on automotive climate policy in 2023-25. While SIAM has consistently supported India’s FAME scheme to promote electric vehicles, it also appears to have advocated to weaken circular economy policies in the country.
Top-line Messaging on Climate Policy: SIAM has stated top-line support for India’s 2070 climate neutrality target, including in its 2023-24 Annual Report, released in September 2024. In a September 2023 report, SIAM also appeared supportive of certain types of climate regulation in India. InfluenceMap has been unable to find a recent position from SIAM on the Paris Agreement.
Engagement with Climate-Related Regulations: The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers disclosed that it had proposed new corporate average fuel economy (CAFE) standards for light-duty vehicles to India’s government in its 2023-24 Annual Report, released in September 2024, without disclosing the level of ambition endorsed. The report also disclosed that SIAM was “committed to meeting the government’s targets” on CO2 and fuel consumption reduction while emphasizing that new CAFE rules should be introduced in a “staggered and phased manner”.
In its 2023-24 Annual Report, released in September 2024, SIAM disclosed that it had advocated to weaken India’s circular economy End of Life Vehicle (ELV) rules as part of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, including reduced EPR targets for vehicles.
SIAM also appeared to support for India’s 2030 targets to install 500GW of non-fossil energy capacity and fulfil 50% of its energy requirements through renewable energy in its 2022-23 Annual Report, released in September 2023.
Positioning on Energy Transition: SIAM has both negative and positive position on policies to decarbonize road transport. In 2023-24, SIAM appears to have advocated for multiple technologies to decarbonize the automotive sector in India, including battery electric, ICE-powered hybrid vehicles, CNG and ethanol vehicles, such as in its 2023-24 Annual Report, released in September 2024. In the same report, SIAM also disclosed it had advocated for reductions in India’s goods and services (GST) tax for electric vehicle charging infrastructure and for CNG-powered and “flex-fuel” two-wheeler vehicles. SIAM also disclosed in its September 2024 2023-24 Annual Report that it had directly advocated to policymakers to remove ICE sales restrictions in Chandigarh, alongside advocating for increased investments in new fossil gas infrastructure for road transport.
SIAM has also consistently supported India’s Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) III scheme, which includes electric vehicle subsidies, and the Production-Linked Incentive scheme, such as in its 2023-24 Annual Report, released in September 2024. SIAM advocated for the extension of the FAME II scheme to increase EV penetration in July 2023 Business Today article. Moreover, its former President, Vinod Aggarwal, urged the government to introduce FAME-III as part of the budget in an August 2024 statement reported by the Hindu Business Line. SIAM’s President, Salesh Chandra, also strongly supported the announcement of India’s PM e-DRIVE schemes to promote electric vehicles in a September 2024 statement reported by the Economic Times. SIAM also disclosed in its 2022-23 Annual Report, released in September 2023, that it had urged the Indian government to reduce the GST tax on electric vehicle charging infrastructure. A statement from former SIAM President, Vinod Aggarwal, reported by the Times of India in February 2024 also supported measures in the federal budget to promote EV manufacturing and charging infrastructure development.
Regarding CNG and biofuels for road transport, SIAM disclosed in its 2022-23 Annual Report, released in September 2023, that it had urged federal policymakers to support investments in new fossil gas road transport infrastructure and reduce taxes on CNG. Moreover, SIAM has consistently advocated for the use of biofuels as a vehicle decarbonization pathway in India, for example in a February 2023 press release and an August 2023 public statement by SIAM Executive Director, Prashant Banerjee. According to a press release, in January 2023, SIAM signed a Memorandum of Understanding to promote higher ethanol blends in the Indian gasoline mix.
Regarding the heavy-duty sector, SIAM’s 2023-24 Annual Report, released in September 2024, disclosed that SIAM had advocated to policymakers in 2024 to support near-term investments in new fossil gas infrastructure for heavy-duty vehicles while generally supporting the development of green hydrogen and battery electric vehicles in the longer-term
SIAM’s 2023-24 Annual Report, released in September 2024, further supported transitioning India’s energy mix away from fossil fuels.
InfluenceMap collects and assesses evidence of corporate climate policy engagement on a weekly basis, depending on the availability of information from each specific data source (for more information see our methodology). While this analysis flows through to the company’s scores each week, the summary above is updated periodically.
Additional Note: SIAM is headquartered in India, where InfluenceMap’s LobbyMap platform can currently only make a provisional assessment of corporate climate policy engagement, due to limited capability to access publicly available data on this issue. As it is possible that InfluenceMap is not yet able to fully capture evidence of SIAM's climate policy engagement activities, these scores should be considered provisional at this time.
This summary was last updated in Q2 2025.