NEW DELHI: The government has decided to cap the life of commercial vehicles to 20 years. This means commercial vehicles such as taxis, trucks and buses that were registered before 2000 cannot ply on road from 2020.

There will be no age limit for private vehicles, sources said. This means private vehicles will be allowed to ply if they clear fitness test.

Sources said the decision was taken at a high level meeting in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) which was attended by officials from Niti Aayog, transport, heavy industries, finance and environment ministries.

The government expects at least seven lakh commercial vehicles registered before 2000 will be out of the road in 2020. Since there will be a mechanism in place capping the age starting from 2020 older commercial vehicles will be automatically deregistered.

Since this will be a regulatory mechanism, the government will give some tax relief to those who scrap their old vehicles and buy a new one against it.

There is a proposal to keep the sale of old vehicle as scrap out of the GST regime. Subsequently, when the owner of scrapped vehicle goes for a new one, he may get 10% discount.

These proposals will be put before the GST Council.

