Indian Government Removes Customs Duty Imposed On Cars Imported for Testing in India

The Indian government has opted to remove the 252 per cent customs duty imposed on cars that are imported to India for testing. This aims to attract a higher number of companies to perform of crash tests in the country.

"With this move, India has become the sixth country to successfully provide testing and certification to foreign cars brought in the country. The duty concessions will make India competitive against the UK, Germany, China, Taiwan, Japan," Said, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Minister of Heavy Industries at the ‘Towards Panchamrita’ event organized by International Centre of Automotive Technology, Manesar. The conference was organized in order to support PM Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Panchamrit’ which translates to 5 clean fuels and includes Hydrogen, Gas, Biodiesel, Electric Vehicles and Ethanol.

There are currently 4 vehicle testing centres in India which include GARC in Oragadam (Global Automotive Research Center), NATRAX in Pithampur (National Automotive Test Tracks), iCAT in Manesar, and ARAI in Pune (Automotive Research Association of India). 

Last year, Nitin Gadkari, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways had suggested a star rating system to be given to vehicles based on their performances in crash tests. The introduction of this system also aims to make Indian Automobiles more export-worthy.

Source: ET Auto