India, Oct. 23 -- The Centre this month notified tougher crash-safety rules that every new car sold in India will have to meet, phased in from October 2027 to 2032. They cover what happens to the people inside a car in frontal, side and rear crashes and what happens to a pedestrian that a car hits, among other tests.

These are the legal rules, the minimum safety threshold that a car must meet before it can be sold.

They are implemented alongside the government's voluntary programme, Bharat NCAP, which rates cars - in a scale of one to five stars - on safety parameters. Bharat NCAP 2.0, a tougher and broader set of crash-tests, is also set to come into effect from October 2027.

Taken together, the legal requirements and Bharat NCAP 2.0 ...