Cost of automobiles will go up substantially once the country adopts Bharat Stage (BS) VI emission standards, Rajan Wadhera, President-Automotive Sector at M&M, said.

Wadhera talked to CNBC-TV18 about his expectations on cost increase. "For a petrol vehicle, it will probably be in the range of Rs 20,000 and for diesel vehicles which are big vehicles where we have 50 percent GST at the moment, it could be around Rs 1 lakh. If you take vehicles which are less than 4 metre where the GST is lower, around Rs 70,000 to Rs 80,000 would be the impact."

On BS-VI fuel availability, Wadhera wants to advance the date. "The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has met oil companies. The oil companies are sticking to April 1, 2020 as the date for pan-India availability of the diesel fuel for BS-VI usage. We are requesting them to make it available earlier -- at least by mid-January because the ramp down and the ramp up cannot happen in one day. We would need BS-VI diesel fuel availability at least a month and half earlier pan-India," he pointed out.

First Published:Jun 3, 2019 8:48 PM IST