BS-VII Emission Norms Proposed for New Cars and SUVs from April 2029: What Changes and Why
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a draft notification proposing Bharat Stage VII (BS-VII) emission norms (pollution limits for new vehicles).
The first phase is proposed from 1 April 2029 for M1 category vehicles: passenger cars and SUVs with up to eight seats plus the driver's seat.
Later phases are proposed for light commercial vehicles (around 2030) and for buses, trucks and other heavy vehicles. Reports give different dates for the heavy-vehicle phase (2031 to 2035), and MoRTH will issue separate category-wise notifications.
The tailpipe limits for carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter stay the same as BS-VI. What changes is how strictly and how widely vehicles are tested: finer particles (down to 10 nanometres instead of 23) will now be counted, and real-world driving and the whole life of the vehicle will be checked.
For the first time, the norms are proposed to cover non-exhaust pollution from brake and tyre wear, and minimum battery durability for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The public can send objections and suggestions on the draft for 30 days. The long timeline is meant to bring India closer to Europe's Euro 7 standard.
Bharat Stage (BS) Emission Norms
Bharat Stage (BS) norms are India's rules on how much pollution a new vehicle may release from its exhaust. They fix the maximum amount of gases like carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, and of tiny soot particles, per kilometre. A vehicle model must pass these limits before it can be sold. The higher the stage number, the stricter the rules. India jumped straight from BS-IV to BS-VI in April 2020, skipping BS-V.
The BS-VII draft is the next step in the BS ladder. Instead of making the tailpipe limits tighter, it makes the testing stricter and wider, so that a car must stay clean on real roads, over its whole life, and even in the dust from its brakes and tyres.
Particulate Matter: PM2.5 and PM10
Particulate matter (PM) means very small bits of solid or liquid floating in the air, such as soot, dust and smoke. PM10 means particles 10 micrometres wide or smaller, and PM2.5 means particles 2.5 micrometres or smaller. The smaller the particle, the deeper it can go into the lungs and even into the blood. Vehicles release PM from their exhaust and also from the wear of brakes, tyres and roads.
The BS-VII draft targets the smallest and most harmful exhaust particles by counting particles down to 10 nanometres. By also covering brake and tyre wear, it brings non-exhaust PM, a growing share of traffic pollution, into the rules for the first time.
Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) Norms in India
Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) norms are rules that make every car company keep the average fuel use, and so the average carbon dioxide (CO2) release, of all the cars it sells in a year below a fixed limit. They do not check each car one by one. They check the company's whole fleet together. So a company can sell some big SUVs that burn more fuel, as long as it also sells enough small cars, hybrids or electric cars to bring the average down.
The BS-VII draft and CAFE-III are two sides of the same push for cleaner cars from the end of this decade. BS-VII limits harmful pollutants from each model from April 2029, while CAFE-III, running from 2027 to 2032, limits the average fuel use and CO2 of each company's fleet. Car makers will have to plan for both together.
- BS-VII draft notified by MoRTH in October 2026; 30 days for public objections and suggestions
- Phase 1: M1 passenger cars and SUVs from 1 April 2029; later phases for light and heavy commercial vehicles
- Tailpipe limits for CO, NOx and PM unchanged from BS-VI; particle counting threshold cut from 23 nm to 10 nm
- New in BS-VII: brake and tyre wear limits, EV battery durability, real-world and lifetime compliance, market surveillance
- Aim: align with the EU's Euro 7 standard
- BS-VI nationwide since 1 April 2020 (India skipped BS-V)
- CAFE-III (Ministry of Power, notified 30 September 2026) runs from April 2027 to March 2032