Soon after the Chandigarh administration increased Value Added Tax (VAT) on fuel and automobiles, the battery-operated vehicles have been exempted from VAT in Chandigarh. Previously, the authorities had been charging VAT on battery-operated vehicles like on other vehicles at 13.20 per cent. The decision is claimed to boost people’s purchase of battery-operated vehicles over the diesel and petrol variants. Santosh Kumar, Director, Science and Technology wing, Chandigarh administration is known to have said that for a city like Chandigarh with a comparatively smaller jurisdiction, affordability of battery-operated vehicles wouldn’t be a deterrent, especially post the new exemption.