India’s DG set emission norms in 2026 are settled law, not pending law: CPCB IV+ has governed every new genset up to 800 kW since 1 July 2023, and no new pan-India deadline falls due in 2026. What binds an owner this year is a ledger of standing obligations — emission, noise, stack, retrofit — each with its date already behind it. Here is that ledger, in one chronological calendar, as of 1 August 2026.
TL;DR
- Nothing new falls due pan-India in 2026. The current emission standard, CPCB IV+ (G.S.R. 804(E)), has applied to new gensets up to 800 kW since 1 July 2023
- The dates that decide audits are old ones: 1 July 2004 (made-and-installed before it = scrap), 1 Jan 2005 (75 dB(A) noise), 1 July 2014 (CPCB II), 30 June 2024 (last lawful CPCB II supply)
- The regional retrofit regimes are in force, not pending: Delhi-NCR since 1 Oct 2023, Maharashtra’s window closed 31 Dec 2023, Karnataka since 25 May 2023, Kerala’s RECD circular since 28 Sep 2024
- In the NCR, winter GRAP escalations decide whether a set runs at all — and the November 2025 revision moved DG curbs a full stage earlier
- This page is dated as of 1 August 2026 and re-verified quarterly
What is already binding: the full calendar
Audit your fleet against this table. Every row is in force today — none of it is proposed or pending.
| Date | Instrument | What it settled |
|---|---|---|
| 17 May 2002 | G.S.R. 371(E) | DG noise rules enter the standards schedule (serial no. 94) — also the emission stage CPCB’s RECD procedure calls Stage-I |
| 9 Jul 2002 | G.S.R. 489(E) | A separate emission-and-stack regime for engines above 800 kW |
| 1 Jul 2003 | G.S.R. 489(E) trigger | Sets above 800 kW commissioned after this date: stack must be the highest of 14×Q^0.3 m, 6 m above the building, or 30 m |
| 1 Jul 2004 | CPCB RECD procedure watershed | Engines made and installed before this date are to be scrapped — not sold, not used, not run; no RECD can rescue them. Engines built 1.7.2004–1.7.2014 are Phase-I for RECD certification |
| 1 Jan 2005 | Noise rules | Sets up to 1000 kVA manufactured or imported on or after this date: 75 dB(A) at 1 m, integral factory acoustic enclosure, Type Approval plus yearly Conformity of Production |
| 11 Dec 2013 | G.S.R. 771(E) | CPCB II notified — its Note 6 is also the legal hook for the stack-height formula |
| 1 Jul 2014 | CPCB II in force | Genset engines manufactured or imported from this date are CPCB II machines; the RECD Phase-II band starts here |
| 3 Nov 2022 | G.S.R. 804(E) | CPCB IV+ notified for new gensets up to 800 kW |
| 25 May 2023 | KSPCB notification | Karnataka: RECDs mandatory on DG sets of 125 kVA and above |
| 2 Jun 2023 | MPCB circular · CAQM Direction 73 | Maharashtra: RECDs on qualifying in-use sets up to 800 kW. Same day, CAQM’s Direction 73 wrote the NCR operating schedule and the 800 kW-and-above emission and stack standards, to take effect 1 Oct 2023 |
| 14 Jun 2023 | G.S.R. 436(E) | The supply window: gensets with a purchase order received on or before 30 Jun 2023 could still be supplied until 30 Jun 2024 |
| 30 Jun 2023 | G.S.R. 804(E) transition | Last day to manufacture diesel genset engines to the earlier norms — and the purchase-order cutoff for the supply window |
| 1 Jul 2023 | CPCB IV+ in force | Every new genset up to 800 kW must be CPCB IV+ certified. Never deferred |
| 29 Sep 2023 | CAQM Direction 76 | The revised NCR schedule by capacity band, in supersession of earlier directions |
| 1 Oct 2023 | NCR schedule in force | The capacity bands bite. 800 kW-and-above sets in the NCR: PM 50, NOx 650, CO 100 mg/Nm³ (at 15% O₂) and a stack at the higher of 6 m above the building or 30 m. CAQM’s environmental compensation on violators is backdated to this month |
| 26 Oct 2023 | MPCB circular | Maharashtra’s RECD compliance window extended to 31 Dec 2023 |
| 31 Dec 2023 | Three regimes at once | Last date of manufacturing gensets to the earlier norms; Maharashtra’s window closes; the NCR’s one-time emergency-services exception ends |
| 1 Jan 2024 | CAQM, per the Direction 76 release | Even emergency-service DG sets in the NCR must run with the stipulated emission control |
| 30 Jun 2024 | Supply window shuts | Last lawful delivery of CPCB II sets against pre-July-2023 orders. Since then, new supply up to 800 kW is CPCB IV+ only |
| Nov 2025 | GRAP revision | DG restrictions in the NCR move a full stage earlier |
| 30 Jun 2026 | CPCB vendor list | The certified-RECD manufacturer list last updated — fourteen manufacturers |
| Jul 2026 | CAQM sealing list | Most recent update to the published list of sealed non-compliant units |
Four undated obligations run alongside the calendar, and they catch more sites than the dated rows do:
- The RECD five-year rule. CPCB’s procedure applies RECDs to Phase-I and Phase-II engines that have completed five years from their date of manufacture — where a state mandates retrofits, the net widens every month. Which regime binds which set is mapped in CPCB II vs CPCB IV+ vs RECD.
- Stack height. For sets up to 800 kW, the CPCB minimum is H = building height + 0.2√kVA — recheck it every time a set moves, with the stack height calculator.
- Noise. The 75 dB(A) manufacture-time limit travels with the machine; the ambient zone limits at your boundary are a second, separate test — both covered in the noise norms guide.
- Your consent to operate. State boards write these rules — and sometimes stricter ones — into consent conditions, which prevail over every minimum on this page.
Note what the calendar does not contain: a 2026 deadline. The transition is over. If your fleet cleared the rows above, nothing pan-India is coming for it this year; if it did not, the obligation is not upcoming — it is overdue.
What changes with the season
The one part of the calendar that moves annually is the NCR winter. GRAP — the Graded Response Action Plan — escalates restrictions as Delhi’s air worsens, and since the November 2025 revision, DG curbs arrive a full stage earlier than they used to.
Whether your set runs at all during a GRAP period is decided by the Direction 76 capacity bands: gas-fuelled sets and CPCB IV+ sets up to 800 kW face no restrictions even during GRAP; 125 kW to below 800 kW needs dual-fuel conversion or a certified retrofit device; 19 kW to below 125 kW needs dual-fuel mode; portable sets below 19 kW are generally not permitted during GRAP outside emergency services. This is not paper enforcement — CAQM orders non-compliant sets physically sealed and keeps publishing the list, most recently updated in July 2026.
The seasonal rule: an NCR fleet’s GRAP position must be settled before October, because once the first escalation lands, retrofit vendors, gas connections and paperwork all queue at once.
Your quarterly checklist
The calendar is history; compliance is maintenance. Once a quarter, walk the fleet with this list — dates and certificates, not opinions:
- Consent to operate. Diary every site’s expiry and start renewals well ahead. Check whether any condition references RECDs, stack height or emission stage — in Maharashtra, that is now where the retrofit obligation lives.
- Conformance labels. Every canopied set should carry its durable label: the 75 dB(A) limit, Type Approval certificate number, date of manufacture. A missing label is a finding — the prohibition on uncertified models covers use, not just sale.
- CoP validity. Certification runs on Conformity of Production years — 1 July to 30 June — and noise CoP certificates renew yearly. For sets bought new, confirm the model’s certification was valid at supply and file the papers.
- RECD certificates. Where a device is fitted, confirm it is on CPCB’s certified list (last updated 30 June 2026), certified for your engine’s phase and kW band, with the installation record on file.
- The 2023–24 paper trail. A CPCB II set delivered up to 30 June 2024 is lawful only if the manufacturer held the purchase order by 30 June 2023 — file that PO with the commissioning documents before anyone asks.
- Physical checks. Stack height still correct for the building the set now stands beside; enclosure panels and doors intact; date-of-manufacture inventory current, because the RECD five-year line and every regime boundary above key off it.
How we run this on our own fleet
Power Solutions keeps a register for its own 80-set rental fleet under exactly these rules — this article is that audit sheet, published. Each set’s make, rating, year and emission stage is mapped against the rows above: the 62.5 kVA CPCB II set on our ladder stays lawful in most states under consent conditions; the CPCB IV+ ratings carry their factory certification; and the Reserve Bank of India’s six 1010 kVA sets — for which we engineered and erected the exhaust structures — sit outside CPCB IV+ altogether, under the 2002 large-engine regime, which is why they carry three 30-metre stacks across their three sites.
We run the same exercise for clients as a compliance audit: a set-by-set register, the rules that actually bind each site, and a written verdict per machine — compliant, retrofit, convert or replace. If your fleet has never been mapped against this calendar, start at the CPCB IV+ compliance hub, which explains the audit and gives you a sixty-second first answer; CPCB IV+ norms, explained unpacks the standard itself.
One standing promise: this page is re-verified quarterly. The review date at the top is when every row was last checked against the primary documents. If that date looks stale when you read this, call us before relying on it.
Sources: Gazette G.S.R. 804(E) of 3 November 2022 (CPCB IV+ scope, 1 July 2023 commencement, transition dates, CoP-year definition) and G.S.R. 436(E) of 14 June 2023 (supply-window proviso) — both read in full: 804(E) via CPCB, 436(E) via CPCB; CPCB compilation “Noise Limit for Generator Sets run with Diesel” — G.S.R. 371(E) of 17 May 2002 as amended to G.S.R. 215(E) of 2011 (75 dB(A) from 1 January 2005, labelling, yearly CoP); CPCB, System and Procedure for Emission Compliance Testing of RECD, PCLS/12/2021-22 revised 24 July 2023 (pre-1.7.2004 scrap rule, Phase-I/II bands, five-year applicability); CAQM Direction No. 73 dated 2 June 2023 (NCR emission and stack standards for 800 kW-and-above sets, effective 1 October 2023 — read in original); PIB release of 29 September 2023, Release ID 1962141 (Direction No. 76 schedule, emergency-services exception to 31 December 2023, 1 January 2024 obligation); MPCB circular of 2 June 2023 with extension of 26 October 2023; KSPCB notification of 25 May 2023; G.S.R. 489(E) of 9 July 2002 and G.S.R. 771(E) Note 6 as documented in our stack height guide; CPCB certified-RECD manufacturer list as of 30 June 2026; November 2025 GRAP revision and the July 2026 sealing-list update as documented on the compliance hub. State consent conditions prevail over every minimum stated here.