The Government’s draft scrappage policy will be sent to the Goods & Services Tax Council and will await its decision before being implemented.

The Minister said, India has about 180 million registered vehicles today and that is almost 8 times what it was 25 years back. 65% pollution is caused by heavy vehicles that are more than 15 years old.

It is called the Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme or V-VMP at the current juncture as indicated by Mr. Babul Supriyo. The number of vehicles which will come into this ambit is about 28 million vehicles which is the numbers of vehicles bought before 31st March 2005. This program will help the Government in lowering the emissions and reducing pollution.

The Government is mulling giving incentive of Rs. 5 lakh to people who purchase new commercial vehicles of about Rs. 15 lakh once they have surrendered their 15 year old commercial vehicle.

With regards the timeline for implementation of the policy, the Minister said that its too premature to given a timeline as the draft policy is yet to be sent to the GST Council for its discussion and approval. However, the ministry has a longer term goal of reducing emission intensity by about 30-35% by 2030.

On GST rates for replaced vehicles being high, Mr. Supriyo mentioned that it will be discussed in the GST Council. But he shared that whatever is the current rate is approved by all the states with which have their members in the GST Council.