Gadkari Renews Push for Industry Support on Vehicle Scrappage

Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari renewed his call on automakers to back India's vehicle scrappage policy. Speaking at the 66th SIAM Annual Convention on Thursday, he said the industry, not just the government, stood to gain from retiring the country's oldest and most polluting vehicles.

Gadkari made a similar appeal a year earlier, at the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association's 65th Annual Session in September 2025. Scrapping all 9.7 million unfit and polluting vehicles on Indian roads could generate up to ₹40,000 crores ($4.2 billion) in GST revenue for central and state governments, he told the ACMA session. It could also create roughly 7 million jobs and cut the cost of automobile components by 25%, as recycled steel and aluminium fed back into the supply chain.

He urged component makers to offer buyers at least a 5% discount against a scrappage certificate. "It is not charity, because it is going to increase the demand," he said.

Thursday's convention came as the government's Parivartan scheme drives the replacement of ageing trucks and buses in Delhi and the wider National Capital Region. Gadkari pressed the same case on vehicle manufacturers. "If the 2 lakh heavy vehicles are going to scrap and they are purchasing new vehicles, who are the beneficiary?" he asked.

"It is going to increase your sale. It is going to increase your production capacity. It is going to reduce your cost," Gadkari said. He cast the request as commercial logic, not corporate charity.

Roughly 3,00,000 vehicles nationwide, including 1,41,000 government vehicles, had been scrapped under the federal programme as of last year's ACMA session. About 16,830 vehicles were being retired every month, and private investment in scrapping infrastructure had reached 27 billion rupees ($284 million).