BS-IV fuel to be available across India by April 2017, Centre gears up for BS VI by 2020

The government of India has confirmed that BS IV auto fuel will be available across the entire country by April 1, 2017 in a phased manner. 

This information was provided by the Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan to the Lok Sabha in a written reply today.

In the first phase (completed by April 2015), BS IV fuel was made available to the whole of Northern India covering J&K (except Leh/Kargil), Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and the bordering districts of and parts of Rajasthan and Western Uttar Pradesh.

In the second phase (by April 2016), BS IV grade fuel was to be made available to all of Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha and the Union territories of Daman & Diu, Dadra-Nagar-Haveli and Andaman & Nicobar, parts of Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat. The corridor spanning the highway link through Gujarat and Rajasthan linking Northern India to the ports on the West Coast is also covered.

Meanwhile, it can be recollected that the Ministry had issued an order on May 22, 2015 to all Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and other stakeholders conveying its readiness for switching over directly from BS-IV to BS-VI quality fuel with effect from April 2020. In line with this, OMCs have begun upgrading their refineries with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore for 100% BS-IV fuel quality by 2017. Further, an additional investment of Rs 30,000 crore has been estimated for BS-VI fuel quality upgradation.

The OMCs, the government release says, have already initiated actions to meet BS-VI fuel quality across the country by April 2020. Further, the Department of Heavy Industries says  that vehicle manufacturers in India have not expressed any inability to meet BS VI norms.