Union Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises Minister Anant G. Geete inaugurated the test track facility develop by Global Automotive Research centre (GARC) at Oragadam, Chennai.
The same has been notified to issue certificates under CMVR 1989.
The Global Automotive Research Centre (GARC) Chennai is a body working under the NATRiP (National Automotive Testing & R&D Infra Project).
The National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRIP) will play a crucial role to achieve the goals set by Government in the automotive sector under various initiative like BNVSAP, up-coming BS VI Emission norms, Make in India initiative, Skill India, Minimum Government Maximum Governance etc. in coming years.
NATRIP is the largest and one of the most significant initiative of the Government of India in the Automotive sector so far.
The Project aims at creating core global competencies in Automotive sector in India and facilitate seamless integration of Indian Automotive industry with the world as also to position the country prominently on the global automotive map.
The Global Automotive Research Centre (GARC) is one of the biggest test centre established by Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises under NATRIP which is spread over 304 acres of land having the research & development laboratories and test tracks at one location.
The GARC has full-fledged homologation test facilities including the Test Tracks to certify all categories of vehicles, systems and components as per national and international standards.
This centre is surrounded by major automobile manufacturers like Hyundai, Daimler, Renault, Nissan, Ford, BMW, Mitsubishi and many component manufacturers.
Recently, Government of India has notified GARC as one of the authorized test agency for Type Approval and Homologation Testing under Rule No.126 of CMVR.
GARC is one of the six facilities being developed under NATRiP (National automotive Testing and Infrastructure Project) under Department of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises, Government of India.
GARC located in southern auto-cluster of the country is now notified under the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 to issue test certificates for homologation.
The Indian Automotive Sector plays a very important role in country’s manufacturing sector and likely to contribute by 12 percent in the country’s GDP over the next decade. At present, the Indian auto industry is contributing by approximately 7.1 percent in the country’s total GDP. Recently, the India’s two wheeler industry has become the largest market in the world after replacing China.
Last year, the Government of India in collaboration with Indian Automotive Industry has raised the curtain from Automotive Mission Plan 2016-26.
The Government is also promoting the use of electric vehicles under FAME India Scheme, as it would help the Government to reduce the dependency on oil import.