Lucknow, Oct. 24 -- After a nudge from the Centre, the Uttar Pradesh government is weighing an increase in the discount on registration fees for vehicles purchased after scrapping of old ones, though it may not go up to the 50% level proposed by the Union government, officials in the know of the development said The Centre has offered Rs 200 crore to Uttar Pradesh under the Voluntary Vehicle Fleet Modernisation Programme (V-VMP), popularly known as the Vehicle Scrapping Policy, on condition that the state raises its registration fee discount from the current 10-15 % to 50%. At present, U.P. offers a 10% rebate for commercial vehicles and 15% for private ones. The guidelines for the incentive scheme for "Special Assistance to States for Capital Investment 2025-26" were issued on May 22. "The proposal was discussed at a meeting chaired by the principal secretary (Transport) Amit Kumar Gupta here on Thursday," a senior transport department official said. "While the Centre's offer is lucrative, matching its benchmark could cause a heavy revenue loss of around Rs 500-600 crore a year. The state is, therefore, considering a calibrated increase in the concession but is unlikely to go as high as 50%," he said. The Centre has allocated Rs 2,000 crore under Part VI of the scheme for incentivising the voluntary scrapping of commercial and passenger vehicles. The funds will be distributed among states on a first-come-first-served basis. The scheme aims to phase out unfit and polluting vehicles, improve road safety and promote cleaner mobility. However, its incentive structure is complex, with multiple conditional tiers based on the percentage of Motor Vehicle (MV) tax concessions offered by states. States providing a 50% concession will get the highest share of incentives, 20% of the eligible amount at the time of notification and another 30% upon implementation. Those offering lower concessions will receive proportionally smaller shares, and states giving less than 15% concession will get none. The UP transport department's data shows that during 2024-25, Uttar Pradesh issued 26,579 Certificates of Deposit (CODs) for scrapped vehicles, but only 2,783 vehicle buyers, or just about 10.47%, availed of the registration fee discount. "The poor response has prompted the state to review how to make the scheme more attractive without eroding revenue excessively," another official said. Under the revised national scrappage incentive framework, all government vehicles over 15 years old must be scrapped, and states will get graded incentives from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per vehicle depending on the volume scrapped. Incentives for private vehicles will range from Rs 5,000 to Rs 20,000 per vehicle. Proof of scrapping will be verified through data from the VScrap portal and auction records from MSTC, GeM, and Certificate of Deposit systems. Officials said UP would enhance the concession rate to remain eligible for central incentives but would strike a balance between fiscal prudence and environmental objectives. "The final decision is expected soon after further financial evaluation," they said....