Different Bharat standards of Vehicles in India

 

Bharat Stage emission standards is a standard set by the Government of India in accordance with the European standard for vehicles (Euro) worldwide. Before introducing Bharat Stage in the year 2001, the standard available in India was India 2000. India 2000 was similar to the standard Euro 1. In the year 2001, the first Bharat Stage named as Bharat Stage II (equivalent to Euro 2) was launched in Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai. By 2003, it was extended to capital city New Delhi and 13 other cities. By 2005, this standard was set nationwide on all vehicles.

Bharat stage III was introduced by the end of 2005 in NCR and few major cities and by 2010 was extended to complete Nation. Same way Bharat Stage IV was introduced in the beginning of 2011 in major cities and was extended nationwide by 2017. The Government decided to launch Bharat Stage VI in accordance with Euro 6 in the year 2018 and this norm was made compulsory nationwide by 2020. The Government has skipped Bharat Stage V because of the delay in incorporating the previous stage nationwide. By the time India made all automobile companies manufacture Bharat Stage IV, Euro 5 vehicles were available in International market. 

Why do we need so many Stages/Standards in Vehicle manufacturing? The vehicle market in India saw a rapid increase from the late 90’s. Before this boom, we had only very few automobile manufacturing companies in India like Maruti, Hindustan Motors etc. The brands like Tata, Ashok Leyland etc were all keen on producing heavy vehicles. With the rise in demand of automobile industry many companies like Hyundai, Tata started production of cars which resulted in increase in pollution mainly 1 in cities. Thus on April 29, 1999 the Supreme Court ordered Central Pollution Control Board to come up with standards for manufacturers in automobile industry to meet the Euro 1 standards of emission. From then on it was Pollution Control Board, under the ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change who sets the standards and timelines for implementing the stages in automobile industry. With the introduction of new stages or standards in automobile industry the government is trying to reduce the CO emission and Particulate Matter emission into the atmosphere. Now government is giving different subsidies for people buying electric vehicles. The price of electric vehicles are slightly expensive than these internal combustion engines. But in long run, if we see the maintenance cost in running these vehicles, Electric vehicles are far cheap compared to petrol or diesel engines. For a mid size LMV (Light motor vehicle like a car) an average of Rs 6 is required to run a kilometer whereas it is less than a rupee for an electric vehicle. No wonder many manufactures are now coming up with electric vehicles, like the recent introduction of Nexon EV by Tata motors. It took only less than a decade for internal combustion engines to replace the horses and bullock cart from our roads. Same way let us hope Electric vehicles will replace these petrol and diesel engines in a decades time!!