Auto companies seek extension of emission norms deadline

Car manufacturers have approached the Indian government to extend the April 2010 deadline for implementing stricter emission norms by a couple of months, fearing that any mismatch of fuel can have an adverse effect on India’s vehicle population. While car makers are readying to get their vehicles compliant with the more stringent emission norms, the government has been unable to upgrade refineries in places, such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal and North East, to meet the new norms. The petroleum ministry has set up a committee to ensure that 11 Indian metros (Mumbai, National Capital Region (NCR), Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Kanpur and Agra) would adopt Bharat Stage IV (BS IV) emission norms, and the remaining cities would upgrade to BS III by April 2010. (December 8, 2009)