The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi on August 13, 2021 launched Vehicle Scrappage Policy in an investor summit in Gujarat.
- The policy dictates that all automobiles over a certain age should be off the roads in the interest of better pollution control and safety, which new vehicles ensure.
- Commercial vehicles over 15 years old and personal vehicles over 20 years old are marked for scrapping — it doesn’t matter if they run on diesel or petrol — if they fail an automated fitness test. These will be deregistered; the owner can choose to scrap them, but cannot use them on the road.
- Mandatory testing of heavy commercial vehicles will start in April 2023.
- If an old personal vehicle passes the fitness test, the owner can continue to use it, but the charges for reregistration will be much steeper.
- To help vehicle owners find a reason to retire old vehicles, the government envisages that the scrappage certificate will entitle the owner with something extra, such as a tax rebate, sops, and a discount on the new car. The certificate is tradable, which means it can be used by anyone and not necessarily by the owner of the scrapped vehicle.
