including motor vehicles. The standards and the timeline for implementation are set by the Central Pollution Control Board under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.

The standards, based on European regulations were first introduced in 2000. Progressively stringent norms have been rolled out since then. All new vehicles manufactured after the implementation of the norms have to be compliant with the regulations.  Since October 2010, Bharat Stage (BS) III norms have been enforced across the country. In 13 major cities, Bharat Stage IV emission norms have been in place since April 2010[3] and it has been enforced for entire country since April 2017. In 2016, the Indian government announced that the country would skip the BS V norms altogether and adopt BS VI norms by 2020. In its recent judgment, the Supreme Court has banned the sale and registration of motor vehicles conforming to the emission standard Bharat Stage IV in the entire country from 1 April 2020.

On 15 November 2017, the Petroleum Ministry of India, in consultation with public oil marketing companies, decided to bring forward the date of BS VI grade auto fuels in NCT of Delhi with effect from 1 April 2018 instead of 1 April 2020. In fact, Petroleum Ministry OMCs were asked to examine the possibility of introduction of BS VI auto fuels in the whole of NCR area from 1 April 2019. This huge step was taken due the heavy problem of air pollution faced by Delhi which became worse around 2019. The decision was met with disarray by the automobile companies as they had planned the development according to roadmap for 2020.

The phasing out of 2-stroke engine for two wheelers, the cessation of production of the Maruti 800, and the introduction of electronic controls have been due to the regulations related to vehicular emissions.

While the norms help in bringing down pollution levels, it invariably results in increased vehicle cost due to the improved technology and higher fuel prices. However, this increase in private cost is offset by savings in health costs for the public, as there is a lesser amount of disease-causing particulate matter and pollution in the air. Exposure to air pollution can lead to respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, which is estimated to be the cause for 620,000 early deaths in 2010, and the health cost of air pollution in India has been assessed at 3% of its GDP.

Motor vehicles

Comparison between European, US, and Bharat stage (Indian) emission standards for petrol passenger cars.

Comparison between European, US, and Bharat stage (Indian) emission standards for diesel passenger cars. The sizes of the green circles represent the limits for particulate matter.

To regulate the pollution emitted by cars and two-wheelers, the government of Asian nation has placed forth regulations known as Bharat Stage Emission Standards (BSES). The Central government has mandated that every vehicle manufacturer, each two-wheels and four-wheels, ought to manufacture, sell and register solely BS6 (BSVI) vehicles from 1 April 2020.

Both BSIV and BSVI area unit emission norms that set the most permissible levels for pollutants emitting from a automotive or a two-wheeler exhaust. Compared to the BS4, BS6 emission standards area unit stricter, whereas makers use this variation to update their vehicles with new options and safety standards, the largest or the numerous modification comes within the type of stricter permissible emission norms.

The below table offers Associate in Nursing insight into the modification within the permissible emission levels of BS6 vehicles compared to BS4 vehicles:

Fuel Type	Pollutant Gases	BS6 (BSVI)	BS4 (BSIV)
Petroleum Distillate Vehicle	Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Limit	60mg	80mg
	Particulate Matter (PM) Limit	4.5mg/km	–
Diesel Fuel Vehicle	Nitrogen Oxide (NOx) Limit	80mg	250mg
	Particulate Matter (PM) Limit	4.5mg/km	25mg
	HC + NOx	170mg/km	300mg

These area unit emission standards set by the organization Bharat Safety Emission commonplace (BSEB) to manage the output of pollutants from vehicles plying on the road. The Central Pollution electrical device, below the Ministry of surroundings and Forest and global climate change, sets the permissible pollution levels and timeline to implement an equivalent by vehicle makers.

The abbreviation of ‘BS’ is Bharat Stage and is suffixed with the iteration of the actual emission norms. The Indian emissions standards area unit supported the lines of European norms unremarkably called monetary unit a pair of, EURO 3, and so on. the primary rules with the soubriquet Asian nation 2000 were introduced in 2000, with the second and third iteration introduced in 2001 and 2005 with the soubriquet BSII (BS2) and BSIII (BS3), severally.

The fourth iteration BSIV or BS4 was introduced in 2017, and therefore the delay between the introduction of BS3 and BS4 resulted in fast-tracking the BSVI or BS6 emission rather than BSV or BS5 norms. every of those emission norms has stricter emission standards compared to its predecessors.

History

The first emission norms were introduced in India in 1991 for petroleum distillate, and 1992 for diesel vehicles. These were followed by making the Catalytic converter mandatory for petrol vehicles and the introduction of unleaded petrol in the market.

On 29 April 1999, the Supreme Court of India ruled that all vehicles in India have to meet Euro I or India 2000 norms by 1 June 1999 and Euro II will be imperative in the NCR by 1 April 2000. Car makers were not prepared for this transition and in a subsequent judgement the implementation date for Euro II was not enforced.

In 2002, the Indian government accepted the report submitted by the Mashelkar committee. The committee proposed a road map for the roll-out of Euro based emission norms for India. It also recommended a phased implementation of future norms with the regulations being implemented in major cities first and extended to the rest of the country after a few years.

Based on the recommendations of the committee, the National Auto Fuel policy was announced officially in 2003. The roadmap for implementation of the Bharat stage norms were laid out until 2010. The policy also created guidelines for auto fuels, reduction of pollution from older vehicles and R&D for air quality data creation and health administration