NEW DELHI: India's finance minister on Tuesday said the government will introduce a new policy for battery swapping to encourage the use of electric vehicles and achieve its broader decarbonisation goals.

"Considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations, battery swapping policy will be brought out and interoperability standards will be formalised," Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech for 2022/23.

India's Reliance Industries and Britain's BP Plc have formed a joint venture for battery swapping in the country, so have Indian motorbike maker Hero MotoCorp and Taiwan's Gogoro.

Shares of Indian battery makers Amara Raja Batteries and Exide Industries rose 2% after the announcement.

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Euan Rocha) ((aditi.shah@tr.com; +91-11-4954 8023, +91-11-3015 8023; Reuters Messaging: twitter: @aditishahsays))