PM E-DRIVE: GARC Gets Rs 221.13 Crore for EV Testing

The correct answer is PM E-DRIVE, the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement scheme of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. GARC, which works under the National Automotive Board, is modernising its laboratories with funds from this scheme, and it has been allotted Rs 221.13 crore for the purpose. The scheme carries an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore and stays operational up to 31 March 2028, with Rs 780 crore of that amount kept aside for testing agencies alone. Option A, FAME India Phase II, is an earlier programme for electric mobility and is not the scheme named here. Option C, PM-KUSUM, deals with solar pumps for farmers and has nothing to do with automotive testing. Option D, the production-linked incentive scheme for advanced chemistry cell batteries, supports manufacturing capacity rather than the upgrading of testing agencies, so it too is wrong.

The correct answer is Rs 10,900 crore. That is the total outlay of the PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement scheme, and within it Rs 780 crore has been earmarked for upgrading the testing agencies that certify vehicles in India. The scheme is operational up to 31 March 2028. Option A confuses the reader with a figure close to the Rs 780 crore set aside for testing agencies, but that is only one component and not the whole outlay. Option C is simply not the figure stated by the Ministry of Heavy Industries. Option D echoes the Rs 221.13 crore allotted to the Global Automotive Research Centre at Oragadam, Chennai; that is one centre's share of the testing component, not the size of the entire scheme. Aspirants should keep the three amounts apart: the scheme total, the testing-agency component and one agency's allocation.

The correct answer is Oragadam, Chennai. The Global Automotive Research Centre sits at Oragadam on the outskirts of Chennai and works under the National Automotive Board of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. It is an authorised testing agency under Rule 126 of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, which permits it to test vehicles and components and to carry out homologation and certification. Its new and upgraded facilities cover electric vehicle and battery testing to the AIS-156 standard, EMI and EMC testing under AIS-004 Part 3 Rev.1, heavy commercial vehicle testing, an improved powertrain laboratory, advanced passive safety testing and ADAS testing. Options A, C and D name places associated with other automotive testing and research establishments in the country, but none of them is the site of GARC, so each is incorrect here.