According to a report by the Press Trust of India, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has passed an interim order in the NCR region to ban the registration of diesel powered vehicles, apart from non-renewal of registration for diesel vehicles older than 10 years. The report by PTI added that the interim order will be effective till January 6th which is the next scheduled date for the hearing of the case. The NGT is a specialized body that deals with environment issues across the country. The body also advised both the union government as well as the state government to refrain from using diesel vehicles.
Also questioned by the tribunal was the odd even number plate formula by the Delhi government (which allows odd and even cars to ply on alternate days) by saying that it may not attain the desired result. This odd even rule would persuade people to buy 2 cars that would increase the levels of pollution. The Supreme Court has agreed to examine the plea for banning cars to tackle the increasing levels of pollution in the capital.
Stocks of major diesel manufacturers in the country such as Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, and Eicher Motors fell by 2.5%-3% following the decision by the NGT. The NGT had earlier in April held that all diesel vehicles that are older than 10 years would not be allowed to ply in the Delhi-NCR region. The same bench had banned all vehicles that were older than 15 years or more and held that they would not be permitted to run on the city roads.
The NCR region accounts for 7% of the total passenger car market in India. The order is bound to affect manufacturers such as Ford, Toyota and Honda who have 9-15% of their passenger car sales in the NCR market according to SIAM data for the first half of the current fiscal of the year. Companies such as Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota Kirloskar Motors that have a large share of their products in the diesel range stand to lose out a huge stake of their market share. On the other hand, companies such as Honda and Maruti Suzuki that derive a 55%-70% sale from petrol vehicles in India may stand to gain a large share of the market under this logic.