Some companies have agreed to give a 10-20% discount to Telangana government employees on purchase of electric vehicles (EV), announced Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar. Marking the roll out, Chief Secretary K. Ramakrishna Rao and leaders of employees unions placed orders for the vehicles. Addressing a press conference at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Telangana State Secretariat in Hyderabad on Tuesday (March 24, 2026), the Minister said that Mahindra, Ather Energy, Ola and few more companies have come forward to give the 10-20% discount to government employees. He said that this is a first in India, to encourage adoption of EVs and ensure the State is free of pollution. He spoke about other decisions taken by the government, earlier, including hire or purchase of only EVs for government offices, implementation of zero-tax, zero registration for EVs under Electric Vehicles Policy and others. Mr. Prabhakar said that since implementation of the policy, 1,15,551 EVs were sold and the government incurred a loss of ₹925.94 crore. Yet, the government encourages EV adoption, he said.Published - March 24, 2026 03:29 pm IST