SAFER INDIA

India to introduce its own New Car Assessment Programme, dubbed the Bharat NCAP

- SAYANTAN DE

Back in 2022, news broke out about the Bharat NCAP tests to commence from April 1, 2023 onwards. It has now been announced that the rollout is set to happen as soon as October 1, 2023. India is the third-largest car market in the world, having overtaken Japan in 2022. With sales reaching 4.4 million units in the calendar year 2022, we are one of the single largest car markets in the world, after the giants that are China and USA, with annual sales of 24.8 and 13.8 million respectively for the same year. Japan, however, still produces more vehicles than India, but a substantial part of that production is earmarked for exports. Considering the stratospheric growth of the car market in India (it grew by 23.4 percent in 2022), it is high time that we have our own New Car Assessment Programme.

There is another rather sobering reason for NCAP in India — According to a report published by WHO in 2018, India has the highest road accident fatalities per capita in the world. The report also stated that road accident fatalities number in India is 22.6 per 1,00,000 people, far outstripping the other contenders - Brazil (19.7), China (18.2) and the United States (12.4).