India Finance, September 5, 2024 — Another Chinese company begins producing EV components in India

1. After the Indian government revoked road tax exemptions for electric vehicles—causing prices to rise by 10%—EV sales in Delhi virtually halted. This move severely impacted sales of both electric two-wheelers and four-wheelers. Industry stakeholders plan to meet with state transport authorities to address their concerns. The Indian government implemented this measure on August 31. Officials from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations stated that the withdrawal of subsidies led to a sharp increase in EV purchase prices, significantly dampening sales. 2. The Indian government will maintain a substantial tax differential between electric vehicles (EVs) and hybrid vehicles to promote zero-emission technologies. G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant confirmed this policy at a Mercedes-Benz event, underscoring efforts to accelerate electrification. This decision affects automakers including Maruti Suzuki, Toyota, and Honda, which have been lobbying for lower excise duty rates on hybrid vehicles. Now, manufacturers such as Maruti and Toyota may have cause for concern: hybrid vehicles face a 48% excise duty, while EVs continue to attract only a 5% rate. 3. On September 4, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology launched a suite of blockchain-based solutions aimed at enhancing transparency, security, and efficiency in digital service delivery. Vishvasya—a blockchain technology stack—provides Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS) with geographically distributed infrastructure to support a range of permissioned blockchain applications. The Indian government stated that the stack is hosted across NIC data centers in Bhubaneswar, Pune, and Hyderabad to ensure robust and scalable service delivery. 4. Data released on September 4 showed that Indian Oil Corporation blended 232.4 million liters of biodiesel into conventional diesel, achieving a blending ratio of 0.49%, surpassing other oil marketing companies’ average of 0.43%—a landmark industry achievement. This milestone forms part of Indian Oil’s broader initiative to promote sustainable energy. For the current fiscal year, Indian Oil’s biodiesel blending ratio has reached 0.73%. At the 2024 India Bioenergy & Technology Expo, Indian Oil was honored for its significant contributions to India’s biofuel advancement. Its achievements align with India’s national target of achieving 20% ethanol blending by 2025. Currently, ethanol blending in Indian Oil’s base gasoline exceeds 15%. The company has rolled out E20 fuel—containing 20% ethanol—at nearly 7,000 retail outlets across India, highlighting its commitment to expanding green fuel supply. 5. The Indian government proposed reducing the local value-addition (LVA) weightage for certain critical components in IT hardware procurement—a move drawing industry opposition, with critics arguing it would make participation in government tenders difficult for many enterprises. Based on inputs from the team overseeing production-linked incentive schemes, the government proposed lowering LVA weightage for locally procured items under the ‘Preferential Market Access for Make in India’ order, aiming to curb potential invoice fraud. Under the revised LVA calculation mechanism for desktops and laptops, the LVA weightage for printed circuit board assemblies (PCBAs) has been slashed from 45–52% to just 5%. Suppliers procuring bare PCBs may add an additional 5% weightage. Similarly, proposed changes also reduce weightage for other components—including memory, storage, and batteries. 6. Latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data shows that, as of end-June 2024, over two-thirds of bank-mobilized deposits carried interest rates of 7% or higher—up from 45% a year earlier—indicating banks now must offer higher returns to attract depositors amid surging credit demand. RBI data reveals that, as of June 2024, banks offered interest rates above 7% on ₹77.63 trillion worth of deposits, compared to ₹45.12 trillion a year earlier.

Industrial equipment outlook exceeding expectations; tracking the air separation equipment (ASE) industry chain: Foster, Hangyang Co., Ltd., Sichuan Road & Bridge Equipment Co., Ltd.

III. Development of a full suite of independently owned intellectual property (1990s): During this phase, building upon the introduction, digestion, and absorption of foreign technologies, China independently developed next-generation large-expansion-ratio turboexpanders, structured-packing distillation columns, ambient-temperature molecular sieve purification systems, and fully rectified (hydrogen-free) argon production processes for air separation equipment (ASE). Key technical bottlenecks—including process configuration, process simulation, and distillation calculations—were overcome, enabling mastery of the complete ASE design and manufacturing technology suite and securing independent intellectual property rights. During this period, domestic ASE products achieved world-class levels in output capacity, gas purity, oxygen extraction efficiency, and specific energy consumption per unit of oxygen produced. The peak capacity of domestically manufactured ASE units rose from 10,000 Nm³/h to 17,000 Nm³/h. Meanwhile, international leaders such as Linde introduced even larger ASE units during this phase—with capacities reaching 20,000, 30,000, and 60,000 Nm³/h. IV. Catch-up and overtaking phase (2000–present): During this phase, domestic ASE enterprises continued advancing through independent R&D, developing large-scale ASE units tailored for diverse sectors—including metallurgy, petrochemicals, and emerging coal chemical industries. Peak equipment capacity expanded from 20,000 Nm³/h to 80,000–120,000 Nm³/h, with technical performance approaching or matching international advanced standards. Over its century-long evolution, the ASE industry has progressed from heavy import dependence to global leadership, driven by three core development directions: energy efficiency and scale-up (e.g., larger units), intelligent and green operations, and application expansion. The ASE industry chain comprises the following segments: Figure: China’s ASE Industry Chain Upstream—Core equipment and raw materials: Key upstream components include instrumentation (UNI-T, Focus Group), valves (Neway, Jiangsu Shentong), pumps (Dayuan Pump Industry, Zhongjin Environment), heat exchangers (Yinlun Co., Ltd., Hongsheng Co., Ltd.), refrigeration compressors (Binglun Environment, Kaishan Co., Ltd.), and molecular sieve adsorbers (Jianlong Weina, Wanrun Co., Ltd.). Raw materials primarily consist of steel (Baosteel, CITIC Special Steel) and aluminum (Guanlu Aluminum, Nanshan Aluminum). Midstream—Domestic ASE manufacturers include Hangyang Co., Ltd., Kaiyuan Air Separation, Kaifeng Air Separation, Sichuan Air Separation, Foster, and Sichuan Road & Bridge Equipment Co., Ltd. In 2022, Hangyang held the largest market share (43.21%), followed by Linde and Air Liquide in second and third place, respectively; Foster ranked seventh with a 4.99% market share. Globally renowned ASE enterprises include Linde and Air Liquide. Figure: 2022 Market Share of Major Chinese Large-Scale ASE Manufacturers Downstream—Supply of AS gases and end-use applications. Hangyang and Sichuan Road & Bridge Equipment are themselves AS gas suppliers. Similarly, global leaders Linde and Air Liquide operate both as ASE equipment manufacturers and AS gas producers. End-use applications include steelmaking, petrochemicals, and other industries requiring AS gases—many of which procure ASE equipment directly to build in-house AS gas production facilities. Major downstream consumers of industrial gases include the steel sector (Baosteel, Anshan Iron and Steel), petrochemicals (Sinopec), coal chemicals (BaoFeng Energy), fertilizers and ammonia synthesis (Hubei Yihua), and polysilicon (Daquan Energy), among other chemical material sectors. Figure: Downstream Applications of ASE Equipment Figure: Bulk Gas End-Use Consumption

Linde expands industrial gases supply to Tata Steel

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Linde PLC doubled its on-site industrial gas capacity at Tata Steel's Kalinganagar plant via new air separation units, enabling annual steel production to increase from three million to eight million tons.

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