India Publishes Draft BS VII Norms for Passenger Cars

On October 12, 2026 India’s Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has published the highly anticipated draft Bharat Stage VII (BS VII) emission rules for M1 passenger vehicles. BS VII would be the first new stage since BS VI took effect nationwide in April 2020, and it builds on the AIS-215 test procedures circulated by ARAI in August, which we discussed in our earlier article.

ACTION ALERT: 30-day comment period

Comments are due within 30 days of the Gazette being made available to the public, which places the deadline around mid-November 2026 (exact date not specified).

What the draft proposes

•    Phased start: Phase I on 1 April 2029, Phase II on 1 April 2031 and Phase III on 1 April 2035

•    Exhaust gas limits unchanged from BS VI: NOx 60 mg/km (petrol/positive ignition) and 80 mg/km (diesel/compression ignition)

•    Particulate standards tightened significantly: PM (mass) limit unchanged - 4.5 mg/km; but particle number (PN) now counted down to 10 nm (PN10). Limit unchanged at 6×10¹¹/km, but conformity factor reduced, see next. These values are aligned with the M1 limits in the EU’s Euro 7 regulation. PN limits now apply to both diesel (CI) and petrol (PI) vehicles.

•    Real-world and lifetime compliance: RDE testing with a conformity factor of 1.0 for NOx and PN; in-service conformity up to 160,000 km/8 years, extended to 200,000 km/10 years

•    Evaporative emissions limit tightened: Evaporative limit reduced from 2.0 g/test in BS6 to 1.5 g/test.

•    Beyond the tailpipe: brake-particle (PM10) limits of 3 mg/km for battery-electric vehicles and 7 mg/km for other powertrains from 2031, tightening to 3 mg/km for all from 2035; brake PN limit to be notified separately. Tyre-abrasion limits; and battery-durability minimums of 75% (to 5 years/100,000 km) and 67% (to 8 years/160,000 km) for plug-in hybrids and EVs.

•    Digital oversight: On-Board Monitoring (OBM), on-board fuel/energy consumption monitoring (OBFCM) moving to over-the-air reporting, requirements for an in-vehicle Environmental Vehicle Passport, anti-tampering and cyber-security requirements, and an optional “BS-VII-G” approval for ICE vehicles with geofencing.

•    Broad fuel scope: limits apply across E20 to E100, M15 to M100, CNG/bio-CNG, LNG, LPG, HCNG, hydrogen ICE and biodiesel up to B100.

What to watch next

Several values are still to be “notified separately”, including tyre-abrasion limits, brake particle-number limits and range-based battery thresholds. Separate drafts are also expected for light commercial vehicles (from 2030) and buses and heavy-duty trucks (from 2031), and very importantly, for two-wheelers.

Note that the previous AIS notification on test procedures is still in the draft form, and we can expect changes to these procedures, which are not part of this current document.

Alignment with Euro 7 could simplify compliance for manufacturers selling in both markets, while industry is likely to look closely at lead times, testing capacity for brake and tyre measurements, and the cost of certifying across India’s wide fuel mix.

Coming soon for MobilityNotes members

We will cover BS VII in full detail in the coming weeks: a line-by-line comparison with BS VI and Euro 7, the complete test-applicability matrix by fuel type, the inconsistencies stakeholders may want to raise, and what the timeline means for OEMs, suppliers and fuel providers. Sign up for membership to get detailed insights.