New Delhi: In a move aimed at improving road safety standards of motor vehicles, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday launched the country’s first crash testing programme Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP), which is India’s own crash testing programme and is cheaper than tests conducted abroad.
While launching the crash testing module, Gadkari said that the star ratings will help buyers understand the quality of the product and make an informed purchase decision.
The Bharat NCAP will be implemented from October 1, 2023.
“Bharat NCAP is India’s own crash testing programme. This is a very important programme. The cost of testing from abroad is Rs 2.5 crore and in India under Bharat NCAP it comes to Rs 60 lakh. So there can be a good market,” the minister said.
Under the programme, car manufacturers can voluntarily offer their vehicles tested as per the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 197, and based on the performance of the car in the tests, the vehicle will be awarded star ratings on a scale of 0-5, for adult occupants (AOP) and child occupants (COP).
“Nowadays, the market is not cost but quality-centric. They are cautious about the quality, about the model, about the design. The companies who are making good models using good technology are going to increase in the market and those who don’t want to change or upgrade are already facing the consequences”, the minister said, adding that requests have been received from multiple companies to test more than 30 models under the Bharat NCAP mechanism.
There is competition with the quality and safety standards and the government aims to make the Indian automobile industry of Rs 15 lakh crore (in size) from Rs 12.50 lakh crore, Gadkari said, adding that from seventh position earlier, India has surpassed Japan to become the third largest automobile market after China and
the US.
“The automobile industry is one of the largest employers and biggest tax-paying sector to the government. This industry is giving maximum GST to the state and central government. Untill now, the industry created over 4 crore jobs and its overall GDP contribution is 6.5 per cent,” Gadkari said.
Speaking further, he said that there is not much difference between Bharat NCAP and global crash standards and the mechanism has been prepared in a systematic way keeping all stakeholders’ views into account. It is expected that the demand for safer cars will increase, encouraging car manufacturers to comply with customer needs. With high safety standards, Indian cars will be able to compete better in the global market, increasing the export potential of car manufacturers in India.
The programme is expected to develop a safety-sensitive car market in India.
Highlighting the issue of fatalities due to road accidents in India, Gadkari said, “We are facing important challenges. One is road accidents and the other is air pollution. Every year we have 5 lakh accidents and 1.5 lakh deaths. Every day 1,100 accidents and 400 deaths. Every hour 47 accidents and 18 deaths and 70 percent of the deaths are in the age group of 18 to 34 years which result in a loss of GDP by 3.14 percent.”
Meanwhile, the automobile industry hailed India’s crash testing programme, saying it will further elevate vehicle safety standards and as an authentic and objective rating system it will help customers make informed purchase decisions.