The standard will be adopt the same CAFE label and will give manufacturers until 2015 to improve fuel efficiency of cars by about 18%, from the average of 14.1km/litre of petrol (about 43mpg) to 17.3km/litre (about 48mpg). For diesel engine cars the target will be 19.9km/litre from the current 15.5k/litre.

The government is also proposing to lower CO2 emissions from an average 165g/km in 2010 to 135g/km by 2015.

In addition, the draft rules also set targets for further improvement by 2020.

'The draft fuel efficiency standard based on CAFE will be notified in May,' a road transport ministry official told the Hindustan Times. 'The draft standard will be CO2 emission of 135g/km for entire fleet in 2015. In 2010, the average CO2 emission was 165g/km.'