India's Passenger Car Ownership to Grow 775 per Cent by 2040: Study

IEA's World Energy Outlook (WEO) report says, "In the new policies scenario, passenger car ownership grows from less than 20 vehicles per 1,000 inhabitants today to 175 cars per 1,000 people in 2040, and overall road passenger vehicle activity increases more than six-times."

This growth in vehicle ownership has been accompanied by a myriad of pressing issues such as pollution and traffic that often tends to cripple movement on Indian roads. Whereas the marked rise in emissions continues to severely affect health. However, the government's pursuit of the smart city project in India may bring some relief. The study says co-ordinated urban planning and investment in public transport seeks to be a "promising" route to check air pollution.

The report also discusses the impact of the decision to skip Bharat V emission standard and instead adopt Bharat VI by April 2020. It said enforcing BS VI standards will restrict petrol and diesel fuels to 10 parts per million (ppm) of sulfur, thus allowing India to be at par with the global leaders in fuel sulfur standards.