BS III vehicles banned, even as car dealers sit on inventory of 900,000

The combined value is these vehicles is estimated at Rs 12,000 crore

A few thousand automobile dealers received a major jolt on Wednesday, as the Supreme Court decided to ban the sale and registration of BS-III vehicles from April 1, when a higher emission standard  BS-IV comes into force.

As many as 900,000 BS-III vehicles, including commercial vehicles and two-wheelers, are lying as inventory with dealers. Their combined value is estimated at Rs 12,000 crore.

Earlier, through an intervention application, the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Associations (FADA) had urged the Supreme Court to allow the sale of BS-III vehicles after March 31. "When the hearing comes up on Friday, we will be