NITI Aayog launches PACT and ZET marketplace to push electric freight
NITI Aayog's Rajiv Gauba launched PACT and the ZET Marketplace to accelerate electrification of India's freight sector.
India's clean mobility push for heavy commercial vehicles received a major fillip with the launch of two new initiatives — the Platform for Aggregating Clean Transport (PACT) and the Zero Emission Truck (ZET) Marketplace. The platforms were unveiled by NITI Aayog Member Rajiv Gauba during his inaugural address at the 5th E-Fast India Summit 2026.
Gauba noted that the e-FAST initiative has evolved over four years from a discussion forum into a vehicle for coordinated action, reflecting a broader shift in India's clean mobility discourse from intent to implementation. He stressed that transitioning to electric mobility is an economic, environmental, and strategic necessity, crucial for meeting the global Net Zero commitment by 2070 and the Viksit Bharat vision for 2047.
The launch comes against a backdrop of significant policy support, including PLI schemes for automobiles and advanced chemistry cells, expansion of public charging infrastructure, and demand-side programs such as FAME, PM e-DRIVE, and PM e-Bus Sewa.
Highlighting the urgency, Gauba pointed out that while heavy trucks constitute only 3-4% of the vehicle fleet, they account for over a third of transport-sector carbon emissions. With 70% of India's freight moving by road, strategic electrification of key corridors is essential. However, only around 800 heavy-duty electric trucks were sold in 2025.
He identified structural fragmentation among logistics operators, high financing costs, and a lack of coordinated corridor planning as key market constraints. PACT and the ZET Marketplace are designed to address these gaps through demand aggregation, financing innovation, and corridor-based projectization.
Gauba called for blended finance mechanisms, leasing models, and stronger data systems to bring the cost of capital for electric trucks closer to diesel equivalents. He urged logistics providers, manufacturers, charge point operators, and financiers to engage with the platform.
He concluded that in complex, capital-intensive sectors, government is most effective when it builds systems that allow markets to discover outcomes, describing PACT as one such enabling mechanism.