MOVE 2018, a Global Mobility Summit was organised by NITI Aayog in collaboration with various ministries and industry partners in September with an objective to facilitate vehicle electrification, renewable energy integration & job growth and also speed up India’s transition to a clean energy economy.
A first of its kind summit saw over 2200 participants from across the world including leaders from the government, industry, research organizations, academia, think tanks and civil society. Components of the Summit included: the core conclave, digital exhibition, Mobility Week with featured events and a variety of stakeholder consultations.
Speaking at the Global Mobility Summit ‘MOVE’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said, “ “My vision for the future of mobility in India is based on 7 Cs: common, connected, convenient, congestion-free, charged, clean, cutting-edge. Mobility should be safe, affordable and accessible for all sections of the society.”
Stating that charged mobility is the way forward, the Prime Minister said the government wants to drive investments across the value chain from batteries to smart charging to electric vehicle manufacturing. “We need to ensure that public transport is preferred to private modes of travel. The Internetenabled Connected Sharing Economy is emerging as the fulcrum of mobility.”
Speaking on the government’s achievements, Modi said, the pace of construction of highways has doubled, rural road-building programme has been re-energised, fuel efficient and cleaner fuel vehicles are being promoted and low-cost air connectivity in underserved regions is being developed.”
Addressing CEOs of Indian and global automobile companies as part of the Summit, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Shipping, Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation emphasized the need to bring down the huge cost of petroleum imports that the country bears and reiterated his appeal to the automobile sector to shift to electricity or alternate fuels like ethanol, methanol, bio-diesel or hybrid. He also appealed to the industry to explore inland waterways and coastal shipping as alternate and cheaper means of transportation.