Dr Pawan Goenka, managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra, who has been spearheading  the BS VI compliance programme at the UV maker, was among the speakers at the Autocar Professional BS VI conclave held yesterday. Participating in the Conclave via video conferencing from MRV, Chennai, he said the conference was held at an opportune time when the Indian auto industry is upgrading to the new and stringent emission norms. The BS VI challenge has turned into an opportunity, he pointed out.

The achievement is also a reflection of Indian ingenuity. M&M says 95 percent of the BS VI development work has been done in-house. Localisation level is as high as 99 percent. The figure stands at 80 percent if the sourcing by M&M's component vendors is also included. A total of 125 vendors and 32 technology providers are part of the BS VI programme. MRV, Mahindra’s R&D hub in Chennai, has filed 30 patents in the quest for BS VI-ready engines.  

Dr Goenka said, “The past three-and-a-half years have been the most challenging for the auto industry to meet BS VI norms. The Narendra Modi government, in its first four years, took many important decisions and BS VI is among them. Though the industry was up in arms against the decision, transport minister Nitin Gadkari stuck to his guns. In fact, he had more confidence in the Indian auto industry than the industry itself! Mahindra & Mahindra is BS VI-ready. We had to work on 16 engines and 21 vehicles across segments (private and commercial) and we will launch our BS VI-compliant petrol engine before the end of Q2 FY2020.All technological challenges have been negated and we not compromised on NVH, fuel efficiency or performance.”

He added, “The local content in our BS VI engines is 95 percent and 2,000 of the 2025 BS VI-relevant components have been developed in-house. We have invested more than Rs 130 crore in our facilities and have managed to achieve BS VI upgradation in just 50 percent of the costs that we had estimated would be incurred in 2016.”

Four challenges
In the run-up to the implementation of BS VI from April 2020, Dr Goenka said he foresees
four challenges:
- Availability of BS VI fuel. Although the government has confirmed the same by April 2020, OEMs will need it by January 2020 because they need to start selling BS VI vehicles.
- Supply of BS VI components will be a challenge for component makers because they will have to stop making BS IV parts and develop new production lines.
- Inventory levels will also be an issue because OEMs cannot afford to have any BS IV vehicles unsold.
- The unavoidable cost increase in petrol and diesel engines, some of which will have to be passed on to the consumer.

Thanking the domestic component supplier industry, he said the industry’s never-say-die approach and frugal approach has helped achieve the BS VI target. He also lauded the government of India, saying: “I thank the government for pushing the industry to achieve the impossible – but don’t make it a habit!”

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