Indian Oil to supply BS-VI fuels in Telangana from April 1

Hyderabad: The Indian Oil will start selling Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) fuels in Telangana from April 1 this year and adopt world-class emission norms, said R Sravan Rao, the company's executive director and state head on Wednesday.

"From April 1, 2020, India is moving completely over from BS-IV to BS-VI, which basically pertains to change in the emission norms. With the launch of BS-VI, we would be adopting world-class fuel norms," Rao told reporters here.

The development comes in line with the implementation of BS-VI emission norms from April 1.

"While we are in absolute readiness to launch BS-VI statewide in all Indian Oil retail outlets of Telangana before the deadline, I would even say confidently that most of the fuel that you are buying presently in Telangana from our retail outlets already conforms to BS-VI emission standards," Rao said.

"However, we are yet to declare it as BS-VI fuel. It would be done when the formal launch happens," he added.

Rao also said that Indian Oil had recently acquired stakes in Phinergy, an Israeli battery developer, for developing ultra-lightweight metal-air batteries that can be used in electric vehicles.

Auto sales remain subdued ahead of transition to BS-VI emission standards

The automobile industry continued to face low demand last month as passenger vehicle sales declined while manufacturers geared up for a transition to BS-VI emission norms in the new financial year beginning April 1.

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India reported a 1.1 per cent decline in February sales at 1.47 lakh.

While domestic passenger vehicle sales dropped 2.3 per cent to 1.33 lakh units, the compact category (WagonR, Swift, Ignis) suffered a fall of 3.9 per cent to 69,828 units compared to 72,678 units in the year-ago period.

Tata Motors reported a decline of 34% in domestic sales at 38,002 units in February.