Union road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday approved the draft notification introducing Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) for Indian cars, which will be accorded star ratings based on their performance in crash tests, once the rule is finalised."Bharat-NCAP will serve as a consumer-centric platform allowing customers to opt for safer cars based on their star-ratings, while promoting healthy competition among OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) in India to manufacture safer vehicles," the minister said in a series of tweets.
Cars in India were so far following the Global-NCAP rating system due to a lack of Indian standardised crash test rating mechanism. While cars will have an Indian rating soon, it's not immediately clear whether these tests or the consequent ratings will be mandatory for them.Gadkari said that star rating of Indian cars based on crash tests is extremely crucial not only to ensure structural and passenger safety in cars, but to also increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles."The testing protocol of Bharat NCAP shall be aligned with Global Crash Test Protocols factoring in the existing Indian regulations, allowing OEMs to get their vehicles tested at India’s own in-house testing facilities," he added.