Key Details
The second India Electric Mobility Index (IEMI), developed by NITI Aayog with WRI India, assesses all 36 states and UTs across EV adoption, charging readiness, and research and innovation.
Measure | 2025 finding |
|---|---|
National leader | Delhi: 84 |
Leading large states | Maharashtra: 78; Karnataka: 73 |
Leading hilly/Northeastern state | Manipur: 46 |
Median score | 40, up from 36 in 2024 |
Score range | 10–84 |
Active state EV policies | 26 of 36 states and UTs |
Largest rank improvement | Madhya Pradesh: 23rd to 7th |
Largest decline | Ladakh: 13th to 25th, primarily due to revised charging methodology |
The index assigns 50% weight to transport electrification, 30% to charging readiness and 20% to research and innovation. Half of the overall score comes from observed outcomes; the remainder measures policies and other enabling conditions.
Improvement Has Spread, but the Leaders Remain Stable
The highest IEMI score rose from 77 to 84, while the median increased from 36 to 40. Five jurisdictions qualified as Top Performers:
Delhi: 84
Maharashtra: 78
Karnataka: 73
Chandigarh: 71
Goa: 65
Delhi and Maharashtra retained the top two positions, while Karnataka rose to third. Maharashtra and Karnataka were the only large states in the Top Performer category.
Movement below the leading group was more pronounced. Madhya Pradesh climbed 16 places, supported by improvements across policy, charging and the wider EV ecosystem. Goa and Puducherry each gained ten places, while Bihar rose eight.
These movements do not reflect policy action alone. The 2025 edition introduced peer groups, additional data points, revised datasets and new normalisation methods, limiting direct comparison with the previous ranking. Some jurisdictions lost rank even when their scores improved because other states advanced faster.
Adoption and Charging Are Not Moving Together
The index’s clearest policy insight comes from differences between its component scores.
State | Transport electrification | Charging readiness | What the gap indicates |
|---|---|---|---|
Haryana | 19 | 91 | Infrastructure has not yet translated into comparable EV uptake |
Uttar Pradesh | 58 | 36 | Adoption is advancing faster than charging readiness |
Assam | 47 | 24 | Regional adoption is outpacing charging-network development |
Chandigarh | 75 | 52 | Strong electrification performance still requires broader charging support |
Charging stations are therefore neither a sufficient condition for adoption nor an automatic response to it. Purchase costs, commercial-fleet economics, state incentives, electricity tariffs, urban density and vehicle-use patterns can produce very different transition pathways.
Across the country, only three jurisdictions—Delhi, Chandigarh and Maharashtra—were Top Performers in transport electrification. Fourteen remained Aspirants, making vehicle adoption the index’s largest area for improvement.
Charging Readiness Is Stronger, but Still at an Early Stage
Charging produced higher scores than transport electrification:
Karnataka: 97
Maharashtra: 91
Haryana: 91
Goa: 92
Delhi: 88
Six jurisdictions qualified as Top Performers and seven as Frontrunners. Even so, nearly two-thirds of states and UTs scored below the Frontrunner threshold.
The indicator extends beyond the number of operational chargers. It also considers renewable-energy capacity, power availability, building requirements and state measures supporting charging deployment. A high score therefore reflects enabling conditions as well as installed infrastructure.
Innovation Remains Concentrated in Industrial and Urban Centres
Research and innovation showed the widest geographical divide. Nine jurisdictions were Top Performers, but 17 were Aspirants and four recorded zero.
Among large states, the leaders were:
Maharashtra: 85
Karnataka: 82
Tamil Nadu: 77
Haryana: 74
Telangana: 71
Madhya Pradesh: 65
These states contain major automotive manufacturing, technology and startup clusters. By contrast, every hilly and Northeastern state remained an Aspirant. Sikkim and Nagaland recorded no measurable activity under the index’s innovation indicators.
This does not mean that every state requires its own vehicle-manufacturing cluster. It does show that access to technical institutions, skilled workers, startups and applied research is becoming an increasingly important part of the transition.
Geography Changes the Policy Problem
The index separates jurisdictions into large states, hilly and Northeastern states, and UTs and city states, recognising that they operate under different conditions.
Dense urban regions can support concentrated charging networks and fleet mandates. Hilly, Northeastern and island territories face dispersed settlements, smaller vehicle markets and limited industrial or research capacity. Among hilly and Northeastern states, Manipur led overall with 46, but no jurisdiction reached the Frontrunner category.
The comparison suggests that replicating metropolitan EV policies across remote regions may produce weak results. Those regions may need greater emphasis on public and shared transport, corridor charging, reliable electricity supply and vehicle segments suited to local travel patterns.
Policy Relevance
With active EV policies already in place across most states and UTs, the policy challenge is shifting from notification to coordinated implementation.
Where charging leads adoption, states need to identify whether vehicle costs, fleet economics or weak incentives are suppressing demand.
Where adoption leads charging, network rollout, grid connections and charger utilisation become more urgent.
Where innovation capacity is limited, regional partnerships with technical institutions and established automotive clusters may be more practical than reproducing the entire ecosystem locally.
The IEMI is most useful as a diagnostic tool rather than a league table. Composite scores can conceal opposing strengths and weaknesses, while year-to-year rankings can be affected by methodological changes. Policy decisions should therefore begin with the underlying indicators and each state’s transport and energy conditions.
Follow the Full Report Here: India Electric Mobility Index 2025: Tracking Electric Mobility Trends in Indian States