Bharat NCAP

August 24, 2023

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has rolled out an indigenous star-rating system for crash testing cars under which vehicles will be assigned between one to five stars indicating their safety in a collision.
It is called the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP).

India sees nearly 1.5 lakh road fatalities in a year, accounting for 10% of deaths due to road crashes globally with only 1% of the world’s vehicles.

According to a World Bank study, road crashes are estimated to cost the Indian economy between 5 to 7% of GDP a year.

It will come into effect from October 1, 2023.
The objective of the programme is to help consumers make an informed decision before purchasing a car, thereby spurring demand for safer cars.
Under the Bharat NCAP, cars voluntarily nominated by automobile manufacturers will be crash tested as per protocols laid down in the Automotive Industry Standard 197.
- In certain cases cars may be subjected to a crash test such as for a base model of a popular variant (minimum clocked sale of 30,000 units), or when the MoRTH recommends a model for testing based on market feedback or in the interest of public safety.
The programme is applicable to passenger vehicles with not more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat with gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3,500 kgs.
- Only the base model of a particular variant will be tested.
Cars will be assigned a rating between one star to five stars after being evaluated on three parameters — adult occupant protection, child occupant protection and safety assist technologies present in the car.