Chennai EV test centre starts ₹221.13 crore equipment upgrade

GARC says purchase orders are in place for almost all planned equipment, but the new testing facilities are not yet described as fully operational.

Asal Sach

28 September 2026 · 1 min read

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Report prepared 28 Sept 2026, 5:39 pm IST · Event date shown above

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GARC says purchase orders are in place for almost all planned equipment, but the new testing facilities are not yet described as fully operational.

Event / development: 28 Sept 2026
Location: Tamil Nadu

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India's Global Automotive Research Centre at Oragadam, Chennai, has begun installing equipment for a ₹221.13 crore expansion of its vehicle-testing infrastructure, the Ministry of Heavy Industries said on September 28. Purchase orders have been issued for almost all proposed equipment. GARC is an authorised testing agency under the Central Motor Vehicles Rules; the programme expands testing and certification capacity rather than vehicle manufacturing.

The work covers electric vehicles and batteries, electromagnetic-interference and compatibility testing, heavy commercial vehicles, powertrain laboratories, crash-safety equipment, automotive components and advanced driver-assistance systems. The programme also includes high-speed imaging intended to record vehicle deformation, occupant movement and airbag deployment during controlled crash tests.

The upgrade is part of the ₹10,900 crore PM E-DRIVE programme, which the government says now runs through March 31, 2028. Across the programme, ₹780 crore is earmarked for modernising vehicle-testing agencies. Equipment orders and installation are progress markers, not proof that every new laboratory is operational; the reviewed announcement did not give a completion date for each GARC facility.