Implementation of BS-V and BS-VI may Suffer a Setback

The Government of India might fall short of their commitment to implement the BS-V and BS-VI emission norms by 2019 and 2021 respectively. It is now considering to postpone the implementation of BS-V norms by a year to 2020 and that of BS-VI norms to 2022. The reason cited for the delay is the unavailability of cleaner fuel to support such a rapid shift in technology. An inter-ministerial meeting was held yesterday by officials from different ministries. As per sources, the meeting could not reach a conclusion as there was a stand-off between the Petroleum Ministry and the Ministry of Road transport. While the latter was eager to get the upgraded norms incorporated as soon as possible, the former resisted the same due to unavailability of suitable fuel.

“We are awaiting a response from the Petroleum Ministry. The officials wanted the BS-V (Bharat Stage) norms to be postponed to 2020 as they said they are not ready to supply these fuels,” said one of the sources. “We may merge the separate deadlines earlier proposed for new and existing vehicles. The BS-V norms will be effective from 2020 for all vehicles and BS-VI norms from 2022,” said another official.

K. K Gandhi, Executive Director (Tech), Society of Indian Automobiles Manufacturers said, “As far as the industry is concerned, the situation hasn’t changed much with (regard to )this proposal. We had welcomed the implementation of BS-V norms by 2019. We will be delaying cleaner vehicles by one year which is not a good situation to be in.” The initial roadmap included the implementation of these rules by 2021 and 2024 respectively. Although, the Ministry of Road Transport had to prepone the execution dates of these standards by three years in a previous draft.

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