Ashok Leyland expects carry-forward inventory after launch of BS-IV stage

Mumbai, Feb 20 (IANS) Ahead of the mandatory introduction of environment friendly Bharat Stage-IV emission standard, automobile major Ashok Leyland on Monday said that there will be "carry-forward inventory" as on March 31, 2017.

"There will definitely be carry-forward inventory on March 31 in the pipeline -- whether its the company or with the dealers. So some time needs to be given to liquidate (the inventory)," Nitin Seth, President for Defence and LCV (Light Commercial Vehicles) at Ashok Leyland, told business news channel BTVi in an interview.

The BS emission standard, which was introduced in the year 2000, are based on European regulations. The BS-IV will come into effect from April 1, 2017, as no manufacturer will be allowed to produce any variant below the new emission standard's phase four.

The BS standards regulate the permissible limits of air pollutant released from internal combustion automobile engines.

The automobile industry is divided to the core on the question of an extension to be given by the government for effecting BS-IV. The industry claims that non-avialibility of BS-IV standard fuel and price escalation will hamper the launch of the new emission standard.

According to Seth, there is "no conscious" build-up of inventory at the company's dealerships to take care of the BS-IV norms.

"We are already selling 70 per cent of our (LCV) vehicles as BS-IV in the last 5-6 months," Seth said.

"There is a chance that customers may want to prepone the purchase, to buy BS-III in January till March (2017)."

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