Global NCAP is an independent, UK-based crash-test organisation, a project of the Towards Zero Foundation, that rates cars from 0 to 5 stars for adult and child occupant protection. Its Safer Cars for India campaign, launched in 2014, crash-tested India-made cars for the first time and forced structural safety into showroom conversations.
What it did for India
Before Global NCAP, Indian buyers had no crash data at all. The campaign's early tests famously gave zero stars to several best-sellers, embarrassing manufacturers into strengthening bodyshells and adding airbags. Its frontal offset test — 64 km/h into a deformable barrier — became the benchmark, and from 2022 the protocol was toughened to require electronic stability control and side-impact performance for top ratings. Cars like the Mahindra XUV700, Scorpio-N and Tata Punch built marketing campaigns around their Global NCAP 5-star results.
With Bharat NCAP operational since October 2023 and using closely aligned test protocols, Global NCAP's India campaign has effectively handed over the role of routine domestic testing — its stated goal of a homegrown Indian NCAP achieved.
Why it matters when buying
Many cars on sale today still carry Global NCAP ratings rather than Bharat NCAP ones, because they were tested before BNCAP existed and ratings are not retested automatically. The two are broadly comparable — both use the 64 km/h frontal offset test — but check the test date: a 5-star result under the pre-2022 protocol was easier to achieve than under the current one. When comparing, prefer the newer rating, whichever body issued it, and see our list of the safest cars in India.