BS-IV fuel to be available across India by 2017

The Minister of State (I/C) for Petroleum & Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply yesterday that BS-IV auto fuel will be available across the country by April 1, 2017 in a phased manner.

 

In the first phase (completed by April 2015), BS-IV fuel was made available to the whole of Northern India covering J&K (except Leh/Kargil), Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and the bordering districts of and parts of Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh.

 

In the second phase (by April 2016), BS-IV grade fuel was to be made available to all of Goa, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, Odisha and the Union territories of Daman & Diu, Dadra-Nagar-Haveli and Andaman & Nicobar, parts of Maharashtra and parts of Gujarat. The corridor spanning the highway link through Gujarat and Rajasthan linking Northern India to the ports on the West Coast was also covered.

 

The Ministry had issued an order on May 22, 2015 to all Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) and other stakeholders conveying its readiness for switching over directly from BS-IV to BS-VI quality fuel with effect from April 2020. In line with this, OMCs have begun upgrading their refineries with an investment of Rs 30,000 crore for 100 percent BS-IV fuel quality by 2017.

 

Further, an additional investment of Rs 30,000 crore has been estimated for BS-VI fuel quality upgradation. The OMCs, the government release says, have already initiated actions to meet BS-VI fuel quality across the country by April 2020. Further, the Department of Heavy Industries says that vehicle manufacturers in India have not expressed any inability to meet BS-VI norms.