"The fuel economy norms in India are very lacking nature and there has been no movement on the issue,” says Anumita Roychowdhury, Associate Director, Center for Science and Environment (CSE). The CSE has urged the government to enforce stricter rules on fuel economy standards in India. There is an Energy Conservation Act in India and the Parliament office has also issued a directive to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency to develop stricter fuel economy standards but the same has not been implemented effectively in India.
“The car industry has got away with self-labelling, without meeting any official standards,” reiterated Roychowdhary. There have been ongoing discussions since past three year but no concrete steps have been taken so far. She also stated that the ‘Indian small car’ market is gradually shifting to mid to large cars which account for 36 percent sales now. This mean the fuel efficiency will still be lower. Moreover, carbon-di-oxide emission from cars accounts for more than half of all CO2 emitted by vehicles. She said the failure to develop fuel economy standards is out of line with the aspiration of developing India as a car manufacturing hub.
