Bharat NCAP 2 to roll out from October 2027, entire vehicle safety chain to be assessed: Nitin Gadkari

The government plans to roll out Bharat NCAP 2 from October 2027, under which the entire vehicle safety chain will be assessed, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday, as India looks to tackle its severe road accident problem.

Addressing the 66th SIAM Annual Convention, the Minister for Road Transport and Highways highlighted the progress made under Bharat NCAP, India's official vehicle safety rating programme.

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Launched in 2023, Bharat NCAP (Bharat New Car Assessment Programme) crash-tests passenger cars and awards them a safety rating of one to five stars based on their performance in protecting adult and child occupants during collisions.

"We are moving forward with Bharat NCAP 2. This is a very important programme wherein, from October 2027, the entire safety chain will be evaluated. This is very important because road accidents are a big problem... we are number one in the world".

Gadkari said India is the world's third-largest passenger vehicle market and noted that vehicle testing in the country takes significantly less time and costs considerably less than the global benchmark of around Rs 2.5 crore under NCAP.

Despite various measures taken to improve road safety, the number of accidents and fatalities in India remains high, he said. The country records around five lakh road accidents every year, resulting in about 1.80 lakh deaths.

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Most people killed in road accidents are in the 18-36 age group, Gadkari said, describing the situation as a major concern for the country.

"This is a very problematic situation for the country. At any cost, these numbers have to be reduced," he said, stressing the importance of evaluating the entire value chain of a vehicle to improve road safety.

"We are going to evaluate the entire value chain of the crash, and in that, the new technologies and those developed by Indian startups we will use them," the minister said.

Gadkari also outlined plans to make driving behaviour a more important part of India's road safety framework. The government is working on a mechanism under which repeated violations of safety rules could lead to the cancellation of driving licences, while responsible drivers could receive incentives.

He said driver behaviour remains a major challenge and that the ministry is planning to introduce a graded point system for driving licences and vehicle registration certificates.

"This very important and good scheme. Every offence will cut points on the driving licence, and after a particular limit the licence will get suspended or even cancelled further. However, people with good points will get incentives from insurance companies and other benefits," the minister said.

Gadkari said there was a need to discourage behaviour that puts other road users at risk and contributes to fatalities, while rewarding those who drive responsibly.