Skipping BS-V norms is a smart act: Tom Linebarger, Chairman & CEO, Cummins

Tom Linebarger, chairman and chief executive officer of the $19-billion American company — Cummins, a leading diesel engine and power generating products manufacturer, decided to cut short his and his family’s leisure stay in Delhi last winter due to pollution. He is back again to forge a partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry for a clean air initiative. Cummins employs 9,000 people in India where it clocked a revenue of Rs 4,700 crore last year. He talks to Ajay Modi about the pollution problems in India, the importance of diesel technology and the shift to BS-VI emission norms. Edited excerpts: 

Pollution has been a challenge for years. Isn’t the reaction through this partnership quite late? 

Any time to react is better than no reaction at all. There is no question that if we can do something that is comprehensive and sustainable in Delhi and take it to other cities earlier, it will be better. Let’s start now than never. Other cities should never reach the measurable smog levels that we had in Delhi. 

You must have closely followed the developments in India with regard to diesel in last  year. How do you see these reactions?
 

I won’t criticise any regulation because the courts are trying to tackle the same problems we are trying to solve. The issue needs a resolution. However, the regulation from the courts was too narrow. They focused on something that looks big but is low on source and so things did not change much. We need a more comprehensive solution. We need to look at the sources and then we need to be able to build a sustainable and comprehensive set of actions. Regulations should be strict and enforceable. But, other development actions can take place and sometimes, incentives can be used to move industry from one place to another.  

India has decided to skip BS-V emission norm and move to VI. How is this being viewed?
 

BS-IV was a challenge and BS-VI, too. In each case, you are bringing a new technology that is more sophisticated and requires more complicated service and operation. But, BS-VI has now been used in many countries across the world. Cummins has had these technologies since 2010 and in hundreds of thousands of vehicles. So, the technology may be new to India but the products are very well tested. When we bring it to India we need to ensure that it works in the Indian context. We will make sure these are reliable and durable, and also bring down the cost so that impact on user is less.

  

Does the 2020 deadline for BS-VI look realistic?
 

Deadline is achievable in my view. In fact, it is smart for the government and the industry to skip BS-V because BS-V has some improvement in emission but it is not much. The big improvement is from IV to VI. Since this is a difficult transition, it is better to give little more time and not try to do too many in a row. Several other countries have skipped BS-V and moved to VI and have been successful.  The industry is making a very large investment and commitment. 

Does the criticism against diesel technology worry you? 
 

Of course, this concerns me. But I will say that diesel technology as we see it has become a cleaner and cleaner technology throughout the world. Problem with air pollution is not related to diesel fuel but to the technologies we use. With a commitment to technology and a well enforced regulation you get quite clean result. For example, in our BS-VI applications, the air coming out of the exhaust is cleaner than the air going in as the air in cities is most polluted. The way to make diesel competitive is to make sure we don’t settle for worst criteria of emission to get a fuel economy. We can get both. Such a technology exists and is proven.  

Will Cummins look to work in new areas of technology like hybrid and electric?
 

We are already working in both these areas. We have started supplying engines for hybrid applications. We have developed fully hybrid buses in China. We will be ready to provide these as the market demands them. Technology is fast moving in electrification of vehicles. Right now, batteries are not viable for commercial transportation because of the low energy. But overtime, these could change. The fuel cell technology can help. Many of these new technologies will help performance and emission. But there is so much room left in diesel technology to help the environment in India. The current ones are more than 15 or 20 years old. Our ability to clean air in India is significant from just applying existing technologies.