Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India has given some more details of the vehicle scrappage policy which was announced by the Union Finance Minister, Smt Nirmala Sitharaman while presenting the budget on the 1st of February 2021. A few details regarding the timeline, benefits for consumers and the overall structure have been made public now.
More details –
First up, commercial vehicles older than 15 years and private vehicles older than 20 years will have to go undergo fitness tests at fitness automated centres. Bookings for the same can be made online and the results will be electronically shared. Failure of your vehicle to clear this fitness test will result in an issuing of the end-of-life certificate and you would need to scrap it. Should your vehicle pass the fitness test, you can drive it on the road although, you would have to pay a green tax and registration renewal charges.
Should you scrap your vehicle at an authorised scrapping centre and you obtain a scrapping certificate, you are eligible to receive 4-6 % of the vehicle’s ex-showroom price in addition to a 5 % rebate on buying a new vehicle, which was previously revealed by the govt. Also, on presenting the scrapping certificate at the dealership, you can get a waiver on the registration fees as well.
The charges for renewal and grant of fitness certificates for older vehicles has also been increased. Hence, the renewal/grant charges of fitness certificates for older vehicles is INR 1,000 for a motorcycle, INR 3,500 for a 3-wheeler/quadricycle, INR 7,500 for a car and INR 10,000 or INR 12,500 for heavy vehicles, depending on their types. This policy is also intended at recovering the raw materials back and make the whole ecosystem more sustainable.
This policy will also provide a boost to the automobile sector and not to mention will help in bringing down pollution levels. Also, a tentative timeline for the implementation of this policy is as follows –
1st October 2021: The rules for fitness and scrapping centres.
1st April 2022: Scrapping of Govt and PSU vehicles above 15 years of age.
1st April 2023: Mandatory Fitness Testing for HCVs (Heavy Commercial Vehicles).
1st June 2024: Mandatory Fitness Testing for all other categories.
What do you think of the scrappage policy?