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Informist, Friday, Sept. 4, 2026

 

By Anand JC

 

NEW DELHI – Indian customers are responding positively to the Centre's automobile scrappage policy but visible traction in the scheme will take a couple of years more, Mahmood Ahmed, additional secretary in the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, told Informist. "The scrappage policy is succeeding very well. These kind of measures are extremely tough to implement, and the fact of the matter is, you're trying to change the mindset of the people," Ahmed said.

 

Preference for informal scrapping stations has emerged as the biggest hurdle for the policy. "The people would like to sort of scrap their vehicle informally, probably get more money out of that; it's easier probably," Ahmed said, adding that official centres adhere to specific environmental standards which are important for components such as batteries. "You can't pick it up and throw out lead acid somewhere else. So, there are behavioural changes that we're bringing about," Ahmed said.

 

The Centre had introduced its Vehicle Scrappage Policy in 2021. It attempts to phase out old, unfit, polluting vehicles after putting them through mandatory fitness tests at automated testing stations. Commercial vehicles are scrapped after 15 years of registration while personal vehicles get five additional years.

 

"We have 160 scrapping centres, we have 300-plus testing centres now, we will end up building some more, all through private initiatives, but the fact of the matter is that more than one third of all vehicle tests are currently on automated stations, and all the government vehicles which are beyond 15 years, we have scrapped already," Ahmed said.

 

Despite the scrappage centres, the policy has yet to deliver desired outcomes. Less than 3% of end-of-life vehicles in India were scrapped through authorised channels between August 2022 and July 2025 because of weak financial incentives, limited awareness, inadequate infrastructure, and poor enforcement, Business Standard had reported in June, citing a NITI Aayog presentation.

 

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari has routinely called on Indian automakers to provide incentives to customers upon scrapping their vehicles. "Scrapping (of cars) is going to benefit the industry. Give more concession to people who have scrapping certificate, you should offer them some discount," Gadkari told company officials at the 66th annual convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Thursday.  End

 

Edited by Rajeev Pai

 

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