India’s Vehicle Scrappage Policy to Offer 5% Incentive on New Cars for Scrapping Old Vehicles: Gadkari

Remember the vehicle scrappage policy? Yep, the one that was announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the 2021 Union Budget. Soon after the announcement, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had said the scrappage policy’s specifics would follow soon after. Well, it has been over a month and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is yet to formally reveal the details. While we wait for that to happen, Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, has a new piece of information to offer: Folks who junk their old vehicles and buy a new one under the purview of India’s vehicle scrappage policy will receive about 5 per cent rebate from automakers on the new purchase vehicles.

The Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, said, “Automobile manufacturers will provide about 5 per cent rebate on new car purchases to the consumers in lieu of scrapping of the old. There are four major components of the policy…Apart from rebate, there are provisions of green taxes and other levies on old polluting vehicles. These will be required to undergo mandatory fitness and pollution tests in automated facilities. For this automated fitness centres would be required through out in the country and we are working in that direction.”

India’s vehicle scrappage policy will allow owners to scrap their 20-year old vehicles and avail incentives on the purchase of new personal vehicles. In case of commercial vehicles, the scrappage policy will be applicable for 15-year old vehicles without a fitness certificate. While the government hasn’t yet shared specifics about the fitness tests, but from what we know so far, private and commercial vehicles over 20 and 15 years old, respectively, will be required to undergo a fitness test at government’s automated vehicle fitness centers.

The aforementioned automated fitness test centres will be set up under public private partnership (PPP) mode and the government will also aid private partners and state governments to establish scrapping centres. Gadkari added driving vehicles that fail the automated fitness tests will not only attract huge penalties but will also be impounded.

Source: TNN