20 million vehicles that require scrapping accumulated in India: CSE

About 20 million vehicles that require scrapping have accumulated in India, according to a report by an Indian think tank.

The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), in a new report, said of the two billion global vehicle fleet, over 40 million vehicles -- 4 per cent of global automobile ownership reach end-of-life every year.

Entire developing world, including vehicle-producing countries like India that use vehicles more intensely, face the challenge of scrapping their large stocks of end-of-life vehicles without the requisite capacity, the report said.

Even developing countries that produce vehicles (like India) and use them more intensely and longer need to adopt end-of-life regulations to scrap and recover precious material, the report said.

"The government of India is coming up with a scrappage policy but we still do not have what we call an end-of-life regulation which is absolutely essential," said Anumita Roy Chowdhury, Executive Director at the CSE.

In India, about 20 million vehicles have accumulated by 2015 that require scrapping, it added.

India, which is a vehicle producing country, does not allow import of used vehicles or any vehicle that does not meet its emissions standards.

Large numbers of these get traded to low and middle income countries of Africa and South Asia. About 80-90 per cent of vehicles imported to Africa are old and used. Emissions of toxic pollutants, heat-trapping greenhouse gases and black carbon are worsening public health and climate change risks, the report said.