As the novel Coronavirus grips the economy, it does not spare any industry, not even the auto industry. Earlier, the Supreme Court of India ordered that from the 1st April no BS-IV vehicle can be sold in the country.
However, due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Hero MotoCorp Limited has approached the top court seeking an extension of 3 months to the 31st March 2020 dealing for selling the BS-IV emission norm compliant vehicles saying that the sale of vehicles has suffered considerably owing to COVID-19 in a regulatory filing.
Hero MotoCorp is India’s biggest 2 wheeler manufacturer and has over 2 week inventory of such vehicles across its dealership which the company will not be able to sell after 31st March as per the court’s orders.
The country will embrace BS-VI emission regime from the 1st April 2020, the same date from when BS-VI fuel will be sold across the fuel station.
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In the stock exchanges filing the company said it “has filed an interlocutory application today before the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India seeking relaxation of the deadline set for sale or registration of BS-IV vehicles i.e. 31.03.2020,”.
The company added, “In view of the completely unforeseen developments that have arisen out of the prevailing force majeure situation on account of COVID-19, we have prayed for an extension of time for a period of three months, as this has hampered all aspects of our industry. The Ministry of Finance has also declared that COVID-19 should be considered a case of natural calamity and force majeure be invoked,”.
In the past seven days, since the Union and state governments have asked the people to accomplish the implementation of social distancing by themselves in order to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus. However, the same social distancing have impacted various business, and one such case is with the drastic drop in footfall at the showrooms of auto-dealerships.
FADA – Federation of Automobile Dealers Association – reported that they have approached the top court for relaxation in the deadline of switching from BS-IV emission to BS-VI emission compliant vehicles.
FADA’s President, Ashish Harsharaj Kale, in a statement, said, “Owing to situations which are beyond our control and the fact that many of our members may face dealership closures if left with unsold BS-IV stocks, FADA has once again approached the apex body with a request for permission of sale and registration of BS-IV vehicles till 31 May’20,”.
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