China - the world's largest auto market - is planning to ban petrol and diesel cars

A ring road is congested with traffic in Beijing, China, in this November 18, 2015 file photo. Some global automakers are worried that China is pushing its weight around as the world's biggest car market - by enforcing its own, often outdated, vehicle certification standards on foreign cars. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon/Files - RTX24ZJR

China - the world’s second largest oil consumer is planning to ban petrol and diesel run cars. According to China's vice minister for industry, the country has begun relevant research but it is yet to decide when the ban will come into force.

Minister Xin Guobin told Xinhua, China’s official news agency, that the policy is aimed to bring ‘profound changes for our car industry's development.’

The decision by China could lead to serious ripples in the automobile manufacturing sector as the country is the largest car market on the planet. The country accounted for almost a third of the cars that were manufactured last year.

China is aiming to end its over-dependence on traditional fuels which is a chief reason for pollution and carbon emission. The global manufacturing hub also wants to become a pioneer in the electric car sector by starting early.

China has already proposed a plan by which manufacturers have to increase the share of electric and hybrid petrol-electric vehicles to 12 percent by 2020. State-owned power companies have been asked to set up a large number of electric charging points for electric vehicles.

Geely, Volvo's Chinese owner, aims to sell one million electric cars by 2025, Renault-Nissan, Ford and General Motors are all working to develop electric cars in China.

Several other countries and industry giants have already taken action to stop the sale of automobiles run on traditional fuels. Earlier Britain and France had also announced the plan to stop the sale of petrol and diesel run automobiles by 2040.