Kolkata: Leading automobile manufacturer Tata Motors Limited on Friday said that the company was readying itself for compliance to the Bharat Stage-VI (BS) emission norms scheduled to come into effect from 2020.
“TML is now working towards manufacturing BS-VI- compliant commercial vehicles for which significant R&D activity is being undertaken,” Girish Wagh, head, product line, MHCV (medium and heavy commercial vehicles), of the company said.
“TML is in a most advanced stage in terms of BS-VI migration,” Wagh told reporters in Kolkata.
Without going into details of the technology required and cost involved for migration, Wagh said that out of the Rs 3,500 crore-odd outlay which the company makes in its R&D activity, 40 per cent of that goes towards MHCV.
“By 2020, we will have to start selling BS-VI-compliant vehicles, which meant that the readiness will have to be there at least six to eight months ahead of the deadline,” the official said.
We are also talking to the oil marketing companies for availability of BS-VI-compliant fuel, he added.
With the inventory of BS-III MHCV which the company was having now at its factory, Wagh said there were around 4,500 of them and was being planned for export to the SAARC countries.
Business head of the unit Rajesh Kaul said that under BS-VI emission norms, the levels of particulate matter, sulphur, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide and hydro-carbons would have to be reduced to a great extent.
For this the company had already started manufacturing specialised types of engines with EGR and SCR technologies.
TML enjoys a market share of 53.5 per cent in the MHCV category nationally, and 70 per cent in the east.
PTI