Vehicle Scrappage Policy (Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme)

India's Vehicle Scrappage Policy is a national plan to remove old, unfit and polluting vehicles from the roads in a safe, organised way. Its official name is the Voluntary Vehicle-Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP). It decides when a vehicle has reached the end of its useful life, where it must be broken down (scrapped), and what reward the owner gets for giving it up. It works together with a separate set of age limits that courts have fixed for vehicles in Delhi-NCR.

Why does India need it?

Old vehicles pollute far more than new ones. A truck built under old emission rules can release many times more harmful gases and soot than a modern one. Old vehicles also have weaker brakes and poorer safety features, so they cause more accidents. Before this policy, India had no proper system for scrapping. Old vehicles were often broken apart in small, unsafe workshops, where oil, acid and metals leaked into the soil and water. The policy tries to fix all three problems: pollution, road safety and unsafe scrapping.

Where did it come from?

• 1 February 2021: the Union Budget for 2021-22 announced a voluntary vehicle scrapping policy.
• 13 August 2021: the policy was formally launched at an investor summit in Gujarat.
• 23 September 2021: the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) notified the rules for scrapping centres, called the Motor Vehicles (Registration and Functions of Vehicle Scrapping Facility) Rules, 2021. They came into force on 25 September 2021.
• 5 October 2021: a road-tax concession for buyers who scrap an old vehicle was notified. It applies from 1 April 2022.
• 24 November 2022: a notification stopped the renewal of registration of government vehicles more than 15 years old, so such vehicles have to be scrapped.
• 6 January 2025: the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change notified the Environment Protection (End-of-Life Vehicles) Rules, 2025 under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. They came into force on 1 April 2025 and made vehicle makers responsible for getting old vehicles scrapped.

How does the system work, step by step?

1. Fitness test: A vehicle must prove it is still fit to run. This is checked at an Automated Testing Station (ATS), where machines (not a person's judgement) test brakes, lights, emissions and other parts. An ATS is a "test-only" centre. It cannot repair vehicles or sell spare parts, so it has no reason to cheat.
2. Age triggers: As a broad rule under the policy, commercial vehicles face compulsory fitness tests after 15 years, and private vehicles must be re-registered and tested after 20 years.
3. Failing the test: A vehicle that fails its fitness test and cannot be made fit is treated as an End-of-Life Vehicle (ELV). It must be deregistered (removed from the official vehicle record) and scrapped.
4. Scrapping: The vehicle goes to a Registered Vehicle Scrapping Facility (RVSF), a licensed centre that breaks it down safely and recovers steel, aluminium, copper, plastic and rubber for reuse.
5. Certificate of Deposit (CD): The RVSF gives the owner a Certificate of Deposit. This paper proves the old vehicle was scrapped, and it unlocks the rewards.

What does the owner get?

Think of it like an exchange offer at a shop. You give up the old item and get benefits on the new one.

• Road-tax concession: up to 25% for non-transport (private) vehicles and up to 15% for transport (commercial) vehicles bought against a Certificate of Deposit. This applies from 1 April 2022. States set their own exact rates.
• Scrap value: the RVSF pays the owner for the metal and parts.
• Discounts from vehicle makers on the new vehicle, offered on a voluntary basis.

The End-of-Life Vehicles Rules, 2025: making the maker responsible

These rules apply Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) to vehicles. In simple words, the company that makes and sells vehicles must also help get them scrapped at the end of their life. Producers must register on a Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) online portal. They meet their scrapping targets by buying certificates generated by RVSFs when vehicles are scrapped. Agricultural machines such as tractors and harvesters are left out of these rules.

The separate Delhi-NCR age limits

Delhi-NCR has stricter age rules that came from courts, not from the scrappage policy:

• 26 November 2014: the National Green Tribunal (NGT) ordered that vehicles more than 15 years old should not ply in Delhi.
• 7 April 2015: the NGT said diesel vehicles more than 10 years old should not ply in Delhi.
• 29 October 2018: the Supreme Court, in the long-running M.C. Mehta v. Union of India air pollution case, directed that diesel vehicles older than 10 years and petrol vehicles older than 15 years must not ply anywhere in the NCR.
• 12 August 2025: after the Delhi government argued that old vehicles should be judged by how much they pollute and not only by their age, the Supreme Court ordered that no coercive action (penalties such as seizure) be taken against owners of such vehicles only because of age.
• 17 December 2025: the court changed that order. Authorities were again allowed to act against over-age vehicles that do not meet BS-IV emission norms. Over-age vehicles of BS-IV or newer standard stay protected from action based on age alone.

Commonly confused concepts

• Scrappage policy vs NCR age ban: The national scrappage policy is based on fitness: an old vehicle that passes its test can keep running. The NCR rule is based on age, set by court orders, and applies only in the NCR.
• RVSF vs ATS: An RVSF scraps vehicles. An ATS only tests vehicles for fitness. They are different licensed facilities.
• Fitness certificate vs PUC certificate: A fitness certificate checks the whole vehicle (brakes, lights, body, emissions) and is needed for commercial and old vehicles. A PUC certificate checks only exhaust emissions and is needed for almost every vehicle on the road.
• Certificate of Deposit vs Certificate of Vehicle Scrapping: The Certificate of Deposit is what the owner gets and uses for road-tax benefits on a new vehicle. Scrapping certificates under the 2025 ELV Rules are traded by producers to meet their EPR targets.

Issues, criticism and the way forward

• Age vs actual pollution: Critics say a well-kept 12-year-old petrol car may pollute less than a badly kept 6-year-old diesel truck. They argue emission testing should decide, not age alone. Supporters reply that age is easy to check and older engines meet weaker standards by design.
• Few facilities: Many districts still have no RVSF or ATS nearby, so owners must travel far to test or scrap a vehicle.
• Weak incentives: For many owners, the road-tax concession and scrap value are small compared with the cost of a new vehicle. Small transporters and taxi owners, who use old vehicles to earn a living, feel the burden most.
• Informal scrapping continues: Much scrapping still happens in unsafe, unregistered yards.
• Way forward: Experts suggest more ATS and RVSF centres, stronger state incentives, better checks on vehicles crossing state borders, and moving towards testing based on real emissions, along with support for low-income owners to switch to cleaner vehicles.

Concepts to Know

• Deregistration: Removing a vehicle from the government's official vehicle records. A deregistered vehicle cannot legally run on roads.
• Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): A rule that makes the producer of a product responsible for it even after it is sold, including collecting, recycling or safely disposing of it at the end of its life.
• Transport vs non-transport vehicle: A transport vehicle carries goods or passengers for money (trucks, buses, taxis). A non-transport vehicle is for personal use (your own car or scooter).
• Coercive action: Action that forces someone to obey, such as fines, seizure of the vehicle or cancelling its registration.
• National Green Tribunal (NGT): A special court set up in 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 to decide environmental cases quickly.