New Delhi: The Delhi government finally seems to be waking up to the threat of environment pollution from the expanding private vehicle pool in the city. Based on an EPCA (environment pollution control authority) recommendation, the transport department is putting together a proposal for mandatory fitness checks of all private vehicles. At present, only commercial vehicles need to get an annual fitness check done at authorized regional transport offices.

‘Only commuters can comprehend the hassle that Guwahatians have to go through engaging the service of an auto...’

MUMBAI: The Indian commercial vehicle market will double to 1.6 million units in next five years thanks to the increase in infrastructure spend, rapid urbanisation and entry of major multinational players in the country said Ernst & Young in its latest report on 'Mega trends shaping the Indian commercial vehicle market.'

Indians, it seems, are obsessed with growth. Everyone wants to see and experience it. Growth, however, is as much elusive as it is desired. Policy makers and politicians are at their wits' end in their efforts to put the economy in the growth trajectory.

New Delhi: You would have never imagined that travelling on the BRT corridor could get more frustrating. But as a single day’s experiment proved, placing all signals on automatic mode resulted in spiraling jams, especially at the Chirag Dilli intersection. As Central Road Research Institute conducts its study on BRT following the Delhi high court’s order, commuters on the stretch are at their wits’ end.

New Delhi: After more than four years of wrangling, the government has cleared fuel mileage standards and labeling for new cars. The norms will force automobile manufacturers to put government certified fuel efficiency labels on each car they sell and improve efficiency of the cars they sell every year.

However, volatile fuel prices & interest rates could play spoilsport: SIAM
Car sales are expected to accelerate to double-digit growth this fiscal year after increasing just 2.19% in 2011-12, the slowest in three years. The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers expects car sales to grow 10%-12% in 2012-13, buoyed by record sales in the past three months, better macro-economic prospects, launch of some 30 models during the year and expectations of lower interest rates.

The Manipur government is working on a plan to allow only those who have garage space to buy four-wheelers and two-wheelers in a bid to ease traffic congestion in the city and other towns of the state. Responding to a call attention motion raised by two Opposition members in the Assembly today on the “serious problem” of traffic congestion in the city, chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh said, “Our plan is to allow purchase of cars and two-wheelers only to those who have parking space at home. This rule is followed in some of the western countries I have visited.”

The much-maligned diesel has a new moniker that is more impressive than its dirty fuel tag. In the Indian automobile market, diesel is king, and it is now the cheapest automobile fuel, edging out the green fuel CNG. These days, diesel works out cheaper than CNG. For instance, if you calculate the operating cost of CNG in Maruti’s popular hatchback Swift or the Hyundai i20, it emerges that the cost is higher for CNG than diesel — the average per/ km running cost of these cars is around . 2.10 on CNG and . 1.77 on diesel.

Around the same time the finance minister was reading out his Budget speech, Honda Motors was applying the final touches to its long-term diesel game plan for India, which will culminate in India emerging a global hub for diesel engines for compact cars.