Society Of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) estimates that over 1, 40,000 BS 3 vehicles still remain unsold in the country, with their worth being pegged at Rs. 5,000 crore. On 29th March, 2017, the Supreme Court banned the sales and registration of BS III vehicles across the country. At the time of the ruling there were over 8, 24,000 units of BS III vehicles left unsold in India. Around 6, 71,000 vehicles out of these consisted of two-wheeler BS III stocks. There were 96,700 commercial vehicles, 40,000 three-wheelers and around 16,000 passenger vehicles as well. The total BS III vehicle stock around the time of ruling was pegged at Rs. 20,000 crore. Click here to read about the Indian automotive industry's sales figures for the month of March 2017.
As a result, in the last two days of March, almost all two-wheeler companies started offering heavy discounts on their BS III stock. This included premium motorcycle manufacturers as well. And in process, the companies collectively incurred a loss of Rs. 1,200 crore. From what we hear, almost 90 per cent of two-wheeler BS III stocks were sold before 1 April, 2017 while only 55 per cent of the BS 3 trucks were sold before the deadline.
Currently, India has a BS 3 vehicle stock of over 78,000 two-wheelers, almost 19,000 three-wheelers and almost 44,000 commercial vehicles. The immediate escape route will be to export the remaining stock to countries such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and all. Most companies agree on the fact that retro-fitting will not be an option as it will be a rather expensive exercise.
