India’s final CAFE-III Gazette contains a 10-fold discrepancy between its English and Hindi texts in the unit used to measure electric-vehicle energy consumption. Another provision describes October 1-31 as a “30-day” credit-trading window. The inconsistencies may require clarification as carmakers prepare for the fuel-efficiency regime beginning April 1, 2027.
While the English Gazette specifies electricity consumption in “kilowatt hour per one hundred kilometres”, the corresponding Hindi text sayskWh per 1,000 km. Existing CAFE procedures and CAFE-III’s petrol-equivalent conversion work on a 100-km basis, indicating the 1,000-km reference requires clarification or correction.
Next is essentially a procedural inconsistency. Manufacturers trading compliance credits are simultaneously given a “30 day” period and dates covering 31 calendar days. It creates uncertainty over the legally applicable deadline rather than changing the CAFE target itself.
The Gazette separately specifies “Thirty days, from October 1 to October 31” for credit trading.
Separate from those drafting discrepancies, a closer examination of the final CAFE-III framework shows something important for carmakers and consumers: its FY32 benchmark of 3.327 litres/100 km, mathematically about 30 km/litre, is a regulatory compliance benchmark and need not equal the physical fuel consumed by a compliant fleet.
For industry, the rules tighten fleet-efficiency requirements while providing several routes to compliance through powertrain multipliers, technology allowances, carbon neutrality factors, and compliance credits. For consumers, CAFE-III should push manufacturers towards more efficient fleets, but the 30 km/l equivalent figure is not a mileage guarantee for individual cars or necessarily the unadjusted fleet average.
ForeSee’s analysis also highlights how CAFE-III treats different technologies. The underlying procedure defines “PHEV/REEV” together as a strong hybrid capable of off-vehicle charging, yet PHEVs receive a 2.5x multiplier and REEVs 3x, alongside battery EVs, without a specified minimum battery capacity or electric range separating the rewards.
“The multiplier is earned by label, not by capability,” said Randheer Singh, former Director, Electric Mobility at NITI Aayog, and founder of ForeSee Consulting. CAFE-III also does not require actual PHEV charging or electric-distance data for the multiplier.
Former NITI Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant argued that India should bypass transitional technologies altogether. “Hybrids are the electric typewriter of our time,” he said in a post on X on Thursday. “They are a bridge, not the destination… India needs to go straight to electric,” he reiterated.
Published on October 1, 2026
