Since the air pollution levels have gone high in many cities in India, the central government has announced that India will be shifting to BS VI by 2020 and skipping BS V norms. This rule would be mandatory both for cars and two-wheelers. This means that the change will add to production costs leading to rise in overall prices.
According to ICRA's report, after the implementation of norms the average price rise for motorcycles will be around Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000. The price of mid-sized motorcycles may even rise by nearly 10 per cent.
The most significant change will be from carburetted engine to fuel injection one. Along with this, the three chamber catalytic convertor in the exhaust system would also be required in the vehicles.
Another investment will come from the oil companies which will have to invest around 290 crores in order to make BS VI grade fuel available, The content of sulphur in oil will be reduced from 50 ppm to 10 ppm. As per ICRA, this will even lead to a hike of Rs 0.3 per litre of fuel for funding the change.
So, lets see how this change is going to impact consumers and will they be able to handle the price hike or not.