Bhubaneswar, Mar 30: The automobile companies’ body SIAM commented that it would obey the Supreme Court’s imposed ban on sale of BS-III vehicles from Apr 1 but at the same time found it quite frustrating because as per Government notification, sales of BS III vehicles were allowed after April 1, but suddenly those BS III vehicles were banned just a few days before the BS IV vehicles come into force. The auto industry has had the capability of making BS4 vehicles since 2010, but lack of proper BS4 fuel prevented it from selling such vehicles, nationwide. Now running a BS4 vehicle with BS3 fuel can cause severe problems to some vehicles. For 7 years, no one pushed for BS4 fuel availability to change over faster, this sudden decision just a few days before the changeover is rather unfortunate as it causes undue stress on the entire industry and loss of jobs. SIAM President Vinod Dasari said this to media.
Earlier the SIAM had informed the SC that companies have got stock of around 8.24 lakh vehicles which are not BS-IV compliant that includes 96,000 commercial vehicles, over six lakh two-wheelers and around 40,000 three-wheelers. The manufacturers had argued that sale and registration of vehicles, which are not BS-IV compliant, should not be prohibited from Apr 1 and that they would not manufacture any vehicle not complying with BS-IV emission norms from Apr 1. The firms had argued that they may be given a reasonable time to dispose of the existing stock of such vehicles. Observing that people’s health is more important than the commercial interests of the manufacturers, the SC observed that automobile firms have declined to take “sufficient pro-active steps” despite being fully aware that they would have to manufacture only BS-IV compliant vehicles from April 1. The court in its five-page order also prohibited registration of vehicles, which do not meet Bharat Stage-IV emission standards, from Apr 1 except on a proof that such a vehicle was sold on or before Mar 31.
Country’s largest two wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp said it carefully planned a proactive move to switch from BS III to BS IV compliant products across all its range well in time and have been producing only BS IV compliant products since one month before the given deadline. This was stated by the Hero MotoCorp Chairman , Managing Director and CEO Pawan Munjal.
Post SC’s decision, auto stocks fell by 3 per cent. While shares of Hero MotoCorp went down by 3.15 per cent, Ashok Leyland by 2.78 per cent, Bharat Forge by 1.30 per cent, Tata Motors by 0.70 per cent, Mahindra & Mahindra by 0.66 per cent and Maruti Suzuki by 0.58 per cent on BSE. The auto emission norms are emission standards which are adopted to check the air pollutants released from any internal combustion engine equipment, including motor vehicles. According to industry estimates, the total value of the impacted vehicles is between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 crore.
