Mumbai mulls banning combustion vehicles

In a suo motu Public Interest Litigation (PIL) on 9 January, the Bombay High Court expressed its concern over increasing traffic congestion and pollution in Mumbai. It said that the problems affect the quality of life and environment in the city and impact its productivity.

In response, the state government of Maharashtra announced an official government resolution on 22 January; The state set up a committee to study the feasibility of phasing out petrol and diesel vehicles in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, which consists of not only Mumbai City, but also several surrounding urban and semi-urban areas across the Thane, Raigad, and Palghar districts.

“Vehicular emissions are a primary source of air pollution, and the current measures to control the number of vehicles and pollution in Mumbai are proving inadequate,” wrote Maharashtra’s government in a resolution dated 22 January 2025 (translated from Marathi).

The Maharashtra government formed a panel with seven members and stated that the committee may add subject matter experts as co-members and consult specialists from various fields. Sudhir Kumar Shrivastava, a retired IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer, serves as the committee’s chairman.

The panel will study the Bombay High Court’s order and submit its report to the Maharashtra government within three months. A potential ban on petrol and diesel vehicles, as enticing as it sounds to promote e-mobility, could disrupt the transport situation in Mumbai if the state implements it too quickly. EVs are still quite expensive in India and the charging infrastructure required to normalise their use is also inadequate. Such a move could severely impact vehicle manufacturers as well.

A recent report from The Economic Times said that Maharashtra recorded a total sale of more than 2.9 million vehicles, including 254,000 units in Mumbai, in 2024. According to an earlier report from The Indian Express, EVs contributed to just about 230,000 units of the state’s total new vehicles in 2024. Current data for Mumbai is unavailable, but in 2023, Mumbai recorded more than 10,000
registrations, accounting for 33% of the state’s total EV sales.

maharashtra.gov, indiatimes.com, indianexpress.com, reuters.com