Road Transport & Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday launched the much-awaited Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP), which aims to enhance road safety measures by raising the safety standards in motor vehicles.
The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) has approved the notification for Bharat NCAP, which will be operational from October 1, 2023. The standard is on a voluntary basis.
The programme aims to provide a tool to the car customers to make a comparative assessment of crash safety of motor vehicles available in the market. Under this programme, car manufacturers can voluntarily offer their cars tested as per Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 197, the Ministry said.
After launching India’s first car safety assessment ratings programme, Gadkari said that this is crucial to check the number of road accident fatalities in the country.
“Launched the Bharat New Car Assessment Program (BHARAT NCAP) in New Delhi, aiming to enhance road safety by elevating vehicle safety standards for up to 3.5-tonne vehicles in India. This is a landmark step towards empowering our consumers for being able to make a better choice for buying safer cars,” he added.
Gadkari emphasised that Bharat NCAP will also greatly push the safety and quality of the vehicles in India, while simultaneously promoting a healthy competition among OEMs to manufacture safer vehicles.
“The new safety regime under BHARAT NCAP and AIS-197 is a mutual win-win for manufacturers and consumers and an instrumental step towards safeguarding lives of our citizens and making our Automobile Industry the number one auto manufacturing hub in the world,” the Minister said.
