Delhi shifts gears on its electric gamble

Akshara· Host0:00

[upbeat music] In today's episode, we'll break down two important stories. First, we'll talk about Delhi shifting gears on its electric gamble, and then we'll talk about what's happening in India's loan bazaar. Welcome back to The Daily Brief by Zerodha, where we cut through the noise to help you understand what's actually happening in the most important stories from business and markets. I'm your host Akshara, and today is Thursday, 16th April. Coming to the first story. Delhi has a vehicle problem. As of March 2026, India's capital city has 87.6 lakh registered vehicles. As per the report by CSE, of all the pollution Delhi generates locally, as opposed to what blows in from surrounding regions, those vehicles account for over half. Now, why that matters is because while Delhi can't control crop burning in Punjab or dust storms from Rajasthan, it can control what comes out of tailpipes on its own roads. Arguably, transport is the biggest lever the local government can actually pull to control pollution. So partly to respond to this problem, Delhi just announced a new draft EV policy. If it passes through, it would be one of the most aggressive urban EV transitions attempted anywhere in India. Not because the subsidies are extraordinary, but because the policy is the equivalent of someone putting their foot down. Simply, it sets hard deadlines after which you simply cannot register a new petrol or diesel vehicle in key categories. So to understand how we