India Bans Euro III (& Older) Vehicle Sales, Effective April 1
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The top court in India has gone ahead and banned the sale of vehicles running on Euro III standards (and older) in a bid to reduce the country’s growing air pollution problems. The ban becomes effective as of April 1.
As would be expected, a number of auto companies in India saw their stock prices fall on the news — particularly those with large inventories of Euro III vehicles. Going by the figures provided by the Mumbai-based Angel Broking, there are around 120 billion rupees (~$1.85 billion) worth of unsold Euro III stock in the country — for a total of around 800,000 vehicles, mostly 2-wheelers.
This stock doesn’t have to be a complete write-off, of course, as it can be sold internationally — but it will still probably be a big hit to some companies.
The president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), and managing director of Ashok Leyland, Vinod Dasari, commented on the news to a local television station: “Days before the deadline, they said you cannot sell … I don’t think this much inventory can be sold off in the next couple of days.”
Reuters provides more: “The court, in its judgment, said health concerns of citizens took precedence over any financial losses for companies. … India, in 2015, had said automakers must manufacture only Euro IV-compliant vehicles from April 1, 2017, as they are less polluting, but did not propose banning the sale of older-technology vehicles from the same day. Currently Euro IV vehicles, locally known as Bharat Stage (BS) IV, are sold in select states, while Euro III vehicles are sold more widely across the country.”
Good news for some, bad news for others. Considering the substantial air pollution problems in the country, though, the news shouldn’t be too surprising.
Image via Scott Dexter (some rights reserved)
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