Senior Executive Director Rahul Bharti defends the 909 kg relief, saying global precedents justify it and cautioning that unscientific targets risk shrinking India’s mass-market segment.
01 Dec 2025 | 2571 Views | By Darshan Nakhwa
The proposal to introduce a weight-based emission relief for small cars under the forthcoming Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE-3) norms has opened up one of the most visible rifts in India’s auto industry in recent years. When 19 members of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) voted on the ...
This is an Autocar Pro Plus article. Subscribe to continue reading.
The proposal to introduce a weight-based emission relief for small cars under the forthcoming Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE-3) norms has opened up one of the most visible rifts in India’s auto industry in recent years. When 19 members of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) voted on the issue, only two—Maruti Suzuki India and Renault India—supported the concession. Fifteen others, including Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Hyundai Motor India and JSW MG Motor, opposed it, arguing that the relaxation would skew the market in favour of a single player and dilute the country’s broader clean-mobility ambitions.
Industry executives caution that carving out leniency for cars below a fixed weight threshold–909 kg–could erode the integrity of the regulatory framework. They contend that the proposed cutoff appears arbitrary, lacks global comparability, and risks distorting competitive dynamics in the world’s third-largest car market.
Against this backdrop, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd’s Senior Executive Director (Corporate Affairs), Rahul Bharti, mounted a strong defence of the proposal. He argued that many global markets, from Europe and China to Japan, Korea and the United States, extend differentiated treatment to smaller, lighter vehicles, and that India’s draft norms merely mirror a global practice. Bharti warned that without realistic, “scientific” targets, compact cars could be pushed out of the market altogether, undermining affordability, safety, and the government’s stated goal of expanding access to mobility.
Under the draft CAFE-3 framework, the government proposes tightening fleet-average CO₂ emissions from 113 grams/km to 91.7 grams/km. The draft also includes a relaxation for petrol cars weighing 909 kg or less, measuring under four metres, and equipped with engines up to 1,200 cc because such models have “limited potential for further efficiency improvements.”
This justification has not convinced much of the industry. In recent letters to ministries involved in drafting the regulations, several leading automakers urged the government to withdraw the weight-based relief entirely. Mahindra & Mahindra asked for the deletion of all “special categories” based on size or mass, warning that such carve-outs could hinder India’s progress toward safer and cleaner cars and disrupt a level playing field. Hyundai Motor India said the move risked damaging India’s global credibility, arguing that abrupt, segment-specific concessions undermine policy stability and distort investment and technology planning.
JSW MG Motor was even more direct, noting in its November 21 submission that over 95 percent of cars under 909 kg belong to one manufacturer. “A relaxation restricted to this weight band would disproportionately benefit one manufacturer,” the company wrote, urging a reconsideration of the proposal.
Here’s the edited excerpt:
There is criticism that the proposed relaxation for small cars is arbitrary and benefits only one company. How do you view this?
Bharti: About 90 percent of the world's automobile market has structured relaxations for small cars. China offers benefits below 1,090 kg, Europe below 1,115 kg, Korea below 1,100 kg and Japan follows a parabolic curve that eases CO2 compliance for smaller vehicles. The United States follows a footprint-based approach. These are established global practices. I would think many times before calling these governments arbitrary.
These are happy times. We are moving towards the customer. The aim is to ensure the joy of mobility reaches all parts of the Indian market.
Your strong remarks suggest a divide within the industry, especially after comments made by Tata Motors’ Shailesh Chandra. Is the industry divided on CAFE?
Bharti: I do not think so. On almost all aspects of CAFE there is strong convergence within the industry. The only point of divergence is on small cars, where I would have preferred if people took a national view instead of a company view.
Critics say defining small cars based on the 909 kg weight threshold under CAFE is arbitrary and only benefits one OEM. Do you agree?
Bharti: CAFE is a weight-based norm. The targets change with weight. The world differentiates them on weight. Whatever the definition, the Indian Bureau of Energy Efficiency has reached out. I have already named five countries that follow their own weight thresholds. So it cannot be called arbitrary. It seems some people want to protect only their segments.
It is worth noting that under the FAME scheme more than 97% of the subsidy went to one company, yet nobody questioned it because it was seen as being in the national interest. Nobody is preventing anyone from launching products in the small-car segment.
CAFE is a fleet-average regulation. Why should one weight category get special treatment?
Bharti: My only question is why the whole world does it. Europe provides an 18% relaxation for its lowest-weight category in CAFE 3. Policymakers across markets must be following some wisdom. We should try to understand that.
Without the relaxation, will small cars fail to meet the new norms?
Bharti: No car in the world can meet these unscientific targets. The problem is not in the cars. The problem is the target becoming unrealistic.
How was the 909 kg exemption figure decided under draft CAFE norms?
Bharti: We do not know how 909 kg was arrived at. Directionally, we highlighted to the government that small cars face disadvantages and shared global precedents. The final definition is entirely theirs.
Have you written to the government on this issue?
Bharti: We do not submit letters to the government and leak them to the media.
Will a three-gram-per-kilometre relaxation meaningfully increase small-car demand?
Bharti: Three grams is a very small number. Other relaxations under CAFE for different categories are far higher. Globally, Europe gives an 18 gram benefit.
To the customer our products, our features, performance, styling, space, technology, quality, service all those things matter to the customer. The risk is that if the targets become unscientific they become unjust. Then just to meet CAFE regulation a small car which produces the lowest or the very low absolute CO2 that will have to be discontinued. That we don't want. So this is why we want to keep the targets realistic but tough.
If three grams is such a small benefit, does it help at all, considering it has split the industry? Are you asking the government to increase it?
Bharti: The government has its own research and inter-ministerial discussions. We have placed the scientific facts before them and trust their judgement.
Critics say this relaxation compromises safety because five-star cars do not fall under this weight band.
Bharti: All small cars in India, they follow the same regulation as the big cars. Crash test safety AIS 98, 99, 100 crash test norms. And these were the same as what they were in Europe till very recently, till 2022. So these are certified safe cars.
On top of regulation, at least Maruti Suzuki provides six airbags as standard across all variants and not just the top variants. We don't differentiate between the life of a richer customer and the not-so-expensive price point of the car. However, many companies in India are doing that. They are saving money on the lower variants by avoiding putting six airbags, or putting them only in the top few variants. So if there may be a cause of concern in those models, there might be.
At least our cars are very safe. I should also tell you, these (small) cars are being exported to all over the world, 100 countries of the world. Don't tell us that the whole world is buying unsafe cars. So that makes small cars absolutely safe.
Thirdly, many people are ignoring the fatalities that we have in two-wheelers. Two wheelers have about 45% of India's fatalities and cars have over a period of time tapered down fatalities from 18% to 12%. We are equally and more concerned about the fatalities among two-wheelers, cyclists, pedestrians. That is also of concern and we should help two-wheeler owners move to cars as early in their lives as possible.