DNA Money Edit: Transition to BS-VI may happen smoothly

Government's notification on Wednesday to pre-date the supply of BS-VI compliant fuel in Delhi-NCR has come as a boost to the automotive industry, which means that though the vehicle-manufacturing companies can follow the deadline of April 2020 to come out with BS-VI-compliant vehicles, the fuel for it will be ready beforehand.

This will also act as a trial for BS-VI fuel implementation before it gets rolled out across the country. The move has given much confidence to the industry that fuel will be sufficiently available when the BS-VI vehicles are rolled out. Also, it may even encourage the manufacturers to come out with the BS-VI-compliant vehicles before the actual deadline. In all the developed economies, the supply of fuel pre-dates the deadline.

The present situation is in contrast to the earlier times during the transition phase from BS-III to BS-IV. India will be skipping the BS-V compliance to migrate directly to BS-VI and will be the only country in the world to do it within a span of three years instead of a decade which it takes on an average.

Earlier, a common complaint of the vehicle manufacturers was that the BS-IV-compliant fuel was not available in required quantity, especially in the interiors and small towns. This apparently gave an impression to the vehicle manufacturers that since the availability of fuel is a problem, the deadline for its implementation may get postponed. However, due to Supreme Court intervention based on the petition of Bajaj Auto, this did not happen and no extension was given to the industry despite the government support for it. This led to a massive inventory build-up BS-III vehicles, which caused a severe loss to the industry.