New Delhi, March 30: Following the SC ban on BS-III type vehicles from plying on the roads, major auto makers of the country are now stuck with multi crore inventories which will need to be cleared out once the ban comes into effect on April 1. Major companies are also facing heat from major dealerships as they too are complaining of inventory holding costs and possible defaults in bank loans taken to buy stocks. 

All major auto makers; Hero Moto co, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata are suffering the heat of pending inventories. The companies were hoping for some relief from the Apex court as they requested the sale of already manufactured vehicles and the dispatches having been made to dealerships across the country. While the Government did support their pleas, the SC was in no mood to relent and pressed on for the need for using BSIV vehicles which are less polluting and more energy efficient. Maruti is one of the only auto makers which are not affected by the ban as they have been using BSIV vehicles for a long time now. 

Almost 8.24 lakh vehicles remain unsold as part of the defunt inventory now. With no extention as hand the dealers are forced to liquidate unsold inventory at huge discounts and will be supported by the manufacturers in the process. 

Auto manufacturers meanwhile are blaming fuel companies for slow rate of transition to BSiV vehicles stating that poor quality of fuel was making it impossible for the makers to shift full gear until now. " There was no push for the last seven years due to poor fuel quality in the market, nwo the sudden transitionn has hit bussiness hard and has stressed out the entire industry", Vinod Dassari Siam president states post the SC verdict. 

According to experts, the auto makers should have stopped the manufacture of BSIII vehicles in the first quarter of the year as speculations were rife that the SC would not be favourable to them. But they continued to do so for profit making.