An inter-ministerial group headed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has decided that the fuel and vehicle eco-system in the country will leapfrog from Bharat Stage-IV to BS-VI emission norms by April 1, 2020, skipping BS-V.

A unanimous decision to this effect was taken on Wednesday at a meeting chaired by Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari and attended by Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Anant Geete, Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar, and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan, along with senior officials of their Ministries.

The Road Transport Ministry will soon issue a notification in this regard.

The Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas has assured supply of BS-VI fuel across the country by April 1, 2020. The Ministry has withdrawn an earlier draft which had suggested shifting to BS-VI after switching to BS-V.

The automobile industry, with its technical competence and commitment to the environment, would rise to the occasion and support the decision, the government hoped.

“Indian refiners are ready to provide BS-VI by 2020. We want to move directly to BS-VI as there is not much difference in technology. We do not want BS-V. We have talked to Prakash Javadekar, Nitin Gadkari, Anant Geete. The notification has to come after discussions with these ministries,” Pradhan had said recently. “Why should our refiners go for double the investment?”

The auto fuel policy had recommended implementation of BS-VI norms by 2024.

Earlier, in the draft notification by the Ministry, the date was advanced to April 1, 2021, and now it has been further advanced to April 1, 2020.

Pradhan said that State-owned oil firms will invest about ₹28,750 crore for the switchover to BS-VI auto fuels.

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