History of Emission Norms in India

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Vehicles are one of the contributors to air pollution and there is need to reduce vehicular emissions on a continous basis. Indian Automotive Industry recognises this fact and is continuously working towards controlling emissions as per the roadmap suggested by the Auto Fuel Policy and proactively developing environment-friendly technologies. India today has some of the most fuel efficient vehicles in the world.

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The first stage of mass emission norms came into force for petrol vehicles in 1991 and in 1992 for diesel vehicles.

From April 1995, mandatory fitment of catalytic converters in new petrol passenger cars sold in the four metros, Delhi, Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai along with supply of Unleaded Petrol (ULP) was affected. Availability of ULP was further extended to 42 major cities; and it is now available throughout the country.

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In the year 2000, passenger cars and commercial vehicles met Euro I equivalent India 2000 norms, while two wheelers were meeting one of the tightest emission norms in the world.

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Euro II equivalent Bharat Stage II norms were in force 2001 onwards in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata.

The first Auto Fuel Policy was announced in August 2002 which layed down the Emission and Fuel Roadmap upto 2010. As was given in the roadmap, four-wheeled vehicles moved to Bharat Stage III emission norms in 13 metro cities from April 2005 and rest of the country moved to Bharat Stage II norms.

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Bharat Stage IV for 13 Metro cities was implemented April 2010 onwards and the rest of the country moved to Bharat Stage III. Bharat stage IV norms were extended to additonal 20 cities October 2014 onwards.

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The Auto Fuel Policy 2025 was submitted to the Minstry of Petroleum & Natural Gas (MoP&NG) which had constituted an expert committe for the formulation of the same in December 2013. The document is currently hosted at the MoP&NG's website. This policy document laid down the emission and fuel road map upto 2025.

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The proposed road map envisaged implementation of BS IV norms across the country by April 2017 in a phased manner and BS V emission norms in 2020/2021 and BS VI from 2024.

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However, the Delhi, NCR region of North India became notorious for its drastic rise in air pollution levels. This attracted attention and subsquently led to the government making a conscious decision of leapfrogging Bharat Stage V emission norms that were subject to implementation in 2020, as well as advancing introduction of Bharat Stage VI emission norms from 2024 to 2020.

Since India embarked on a formal emission control regime only in 1991, a gap in implementaion of these norms in comparison to Europe can be noticed. However, this gap has helped in the technologies to mature which in turn faciltated the Indian Auto sector in meeting the regulations at an affordable cost for the Indian consumers.