Vehicle scrappage policy in the pit lane: Where are the scrap yards?

Analysis shows that four states/Union Territories account for 57 per cent of the older vehicles in the country

August 13, 2021, the government announced a vehicle scrappage policy to scrap and replace on Indian roads commercial vehicles over 15 years old and passenger vehicles over 20 years. The policy, which kicks in this financial year, is a variation of the famous US “cash-for-clunkers” programme of 2009, offering owners incentives in the form of rebates, registration charge and road tax waivers for new cars exchanged for old vehicles that are driven to the scrapyard.

This sort of “freebate system” — a term coined in the US in the 1970s — has been adopted in recent years, not just in the