Bharat NCAP (BNCAP) is India's official car crash-test programme, run by the Ministry of Road Transport under the AIS-197 standard since October 2023. It crash-tests India-made cars and awards 0–5 star ratings separately for adult and child occupant protection, giving buyers a standardised, local measure of how safe a car really is.
How the tests work
Every rated car goes through a frontal offset test into a deformable barrier at 64 km/h and a side impact test at 50 km/h. Cars aiming for 3 stars or more must also pass a side pole impact test at 29 km/h. Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) is scored out of 32 points and Child Occupant Protection (COP) out of 49. A 5-star rating requires at least 27/32 on AOP and 41/49 on COP, plus electronic stability control (ESC) and effective side head protection such as curtain airbags as standard.
Testing is currently voluntary — manufacturers nominate cars — so an unrated car is not necessarily unsafe, just untested. A tougher Bharat NCAP 2.0 protocol with additional crash scenarios has been proposed in draft form; details are yet to be finalised.
Why it matters when buying
Star ratings let you compare structural safety across cars at the same price, something a spec sheet cannot show — six airbags in a weak shell can score worse than a strong bodyshell with fewer. Our guide to Bharat NCAP ratings breaks down how to read the scorecards.
5-star cars in India
Tata (Nexon, Punch EV, Harrier, Safari, Curvv), Mahindra (XUV 3XO, Thar Roxx, XEV 9e, BE 6), the Skoda Kylaq, Kia Syros and Hyundai Creta Electric have all earned 5-star BNCAP ratings — see the current list of the safest cars in India.