NEW DELHI: India is working on an Elon Musk-inspired policy to challenge global and Indian firms to set up manufacturing facilities for electric vehicles, batteries and charging infrastructure in an ambitious time frame with the help of assured policy and regulatory support along with help in getting land and other infrastructure.The move follows Australia’s decision to award Tesla a giant contract against stiff competition after Musk promised to build a grid-scale battery in 100 days and deliver it free if he overs hoots the deadline. The lithium-ion battery , which can light up 30,000 homes if there is an outage, will prop up Australia’s plan to help relatively erratic wind and solar plants replace thermal power stations in the country.Niti Aayog, which is working on an electric vehicle policy, has already sounded out car-makers about the open challenge. The think tank has interacted with many Indian and international car, battery and charging station equipment companies in the past month, said sources with knowledge of the development. The scale and schedule for projects have not been worked out yet.The government is determined to put its best foot forward to facilitate investment. “The government is looking at fast adoption and absorption of mature electric vehicle technologies. It is studying global parameters and how well they can fit into the Indian scenario. The open challenge would be aimed at establishing mature technologies in a limited period, say 100-200 days. Carmakers will benefit as they get all regulatory support through the initiative, which otherwise is a time-consuming task,” a person close to the development said.“The government is looking at many options. The open challenge to international car manufacturing companies is likely to have a mention in the draft electric vehicle policy that will be circulated for inter-ministerial consultations this month-end,” a senior government official said.The government has already tendered for 10,000 e-vehicles and plans to buy many more battery powered auto rickshaws and buses as it seeks to reduce dependence on oil, a big drain on the country’s foreign exchange reserves. It is also considering tax breaks to support e-vehicles.Niti Ayog is in the process of drafting the country’s first policy on electric vehicles. The policy will help prepare the roadmap for achieving India’s target of shifting to an all-electric fleet by 2030. The policy proposes gradual conversion of public transport to a battery operated fleet and then targeting personal vehicles. Another programme — Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric (FAME) vehicles — has been shifted to Niti Ayog from the Department of Heavy Industries and is expected to dole out limited fiscal incentives to manufacturers of electric vehicles and attached infrastructure. Countries including China, Norway and the US offer thousands of dollars in subsidies for the adoption of electric vehicles to reduce carbon footprint.ET had on April 24 reported that the government is looking at limited tax breaks along with a battery swap strategy for affordability. The country proposes to promote sale of battery-less vehicles to cut costs. India companies including carmakers, battery manufacturers, public sector enterprises, original equipment manufacturers and energy companies have drawn up ambitious plans without waiting for a formal policy and incentives from the government.