Quadricycle norms in 10 days; effective immediately

The quadricycle norms will be notified in approximately 10 days and will kick in with immediate effect, says transport secretary Vijay Chhibber. He has also said that the Transport Ministry is supporting the creation of the new vehicle category. CNBC-TV18's Ronojoy Banerjee reports.

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The ministry of roads and transport has now decided that the standards which the committee had finalised would be aligned with the EU standards and will not be a two tier process as the Dinesh Tyagi committee had first proposed.
The committee took a long time in finalising the norms says Chhibber. After the company was first formed in August, there was very little progress made due to differences within the industry. The proposal, Chhibber says was cleared in just 12 minutes in a meeting 10 days ago.
Owing to security concerns, Chhibber has said that the quadricycles will be not be allowed to ply on highways. Relieving vehicle manufacturers’ fears, he also added that the quadricylces will not compete with a small car.
So, this is clearly a boost for Bajaj Auto. Mahindra and Mahindra will also be very interested in this and Piaggio would be another player to watch out for because they are the only manufacturers right now who have such vehicles plying on the European roads. Other manufacturers who may have been opposed to it may come out with vehicles in this segment sooner rather than later.