SBP Rolls Out Interest Free Financing On Electric Bikes, Rickshaws, Loaders

To promote energy efficiency and transition to green technologies in the automotive sector, the State Bank of Pakistan, on Monday, rolled out an interest free financing facility on purchase of electric bikes, rickshaws and loaders

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th Sep, 2025) To promote energy efficiency and transition to green technologies in the automotive sector, the State Bank of Pakistan, on Monday, rolled out an interest free financing facility on purchase of electric bikes, rickshaws and loaders.

Under the scheme, the federal government will provide a capital subsidy of up to Rs 50,000 per 2-wheeler and Rs 200,000 per 3-wheeler while the banks will extend- Conventional and Islamic finance- facility to applicants with a maximum cap of Rs 200,000 for 2-wheeler and Rs 880,000 for 3-wheeler with a maximum loan tenor of 2 years for e-bikes and 3 years for rickshaws or loaders.

The central bank, in a circular issued by SME, Housing and Sustainable Finance Department, shared key features of the scheme with all banks and advised them to gear up their systems and their integration with the Centralized portal of the Scheme hosted by Ministry of Industries and Production and Engineering Development Board for successful implementation of the scheme.

“The Federal Government has introduced a ‘Cost Sharing Scheme for Electric Bikes and Rickshaws/Loaders’ with a view to promote energy efficiency and transition to green technologies in automotive sector," the circular read.

The scheme covers financing of around 116,000 e-bikes and 3,170 e-rickshaws /loaders during FY 2025-26 in two phases. In the first phase, 40,000 e-bikes and 1,000 e-rickshaw/loaders will be distributed while remaining 76000 e-bikes and 2,171 e-rickshaws or loaders will be distributed in the second phase, it stated.

For ensuring inclusion of women in the scheme, a quota of minimum 25% of the total number of e-bikes is reserved for females. A 10% quota is allocated for persons intending to use e-bikes for business purposes such as courier or delivery services while 30% of rickshaws/loaders are kept for fleet operators whose eligibility criteria would be determined by the Steering Committee.

All citizens of Pakistan including Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir are eligible to apply for the e-bikes while fleet operators could apply for rickshaws or loaders.

Borrower shall pay any amount above the Capital Subsidy as part of upfront equity payment while complying with debt-to-equity ratio of 80:20 (down payment of 20%). The equity portion will encompass both capital subsidy and borrower’s share. If the equity portion of 20% is fully covered by capital subsidy, then the borrower will not pay any amount. However as a general principle, any amount surpassing the subsidy will be paid by the borrower.

Under the scheme the rate of Bank pricing is fixed at 6-month KIBOR +2.75% while the End User rate is 0% as the federal government will provide full mark-up subsidy.

Engineering Development Board (EDB) has shortlisted the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) or Vendors and Vehicle Models. OEMs shall be responsible for timely delivery of vehicles to borrowers and for regular after sales service under the scheme.