Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari announced that buyers scrapping their old vehicles can now avail significant discounts when purchasing new ones, thanks to agreements with several major vehicle manufacturers. This initiative is part of the government’s push to promote the circular economy and encourage the use of cleaner, safer, and more efficient vehicles on Indian roads.
Gadkari stated, “I am pleased to report that, in response to my recommendation, several commercial and passenger vehicle manufacturers have agreed to offer discounts for the purchase of new vehicles against the scrapping of older vehicles with a valid Certificate of Deposit.”
As per a report in The Times of India, these discounts are expected to range from 1.5% to 3.5% for buyers trading in old vehicles for new ones. The move is seen as a boost to the vehicle scrappage policy, which has had limited impact since its introduction.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) President Vinod Aggarwal earlier highlighted the need for more government incentives to make the scrappage policy more effective. “We are expecting that the government could do something more on the incentives for the scrapping of vehicles, because the scrappage policy is already in place but we have not seen much impact of that,” he said. He added that additional measures are necessary to accelerate the removal of old, polluting vehicles from the roads.
This initiative is anticipated to provide a much-needed push to the scrappage policy and enhance the adoption of environmentally-friendly vehicles across the country.
