NEW DELHI: Three months after the Centre declared a new seismic zonation for India that classified Zone 6 as the highest risk, primarily covering the Himalayan arc and designating almost 60% of the country in moderate to high-risk zones— the 2024 iteration of IS 1893, introducing stricter construction safety standards, has now been revoked.
In a notable regulatory change, the previous standard, IS 1893 of 2016, is reinstated. A gazette notification dated March 3 from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) confirmed that the earlier notification from November 6, 2025, regarding the updated IS 1893 of 2025, ‘is withdrawn immediately’. Sources indicate that the BIS made this decision under the direction of the Cabinet Secretariat, following objections from the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) regarding inadequate consultation with stakeholders and significant construction cost increases related to adhering to new earthquake-resistant building standards.
MoHUA expressed that the 2025 code would severely affect numerous projects, stalling both residential and infrastructure development while leading to additional retrofitting costs estimated at 10%-15% specifically in Zones VI and V.
According to reports, the Cabinet Secretariat emphasized that any revisions to the seismic code should occur only after thorough stakeholder consultation and a detailed financial impact analysis, allowing for a gradual transition rather than an abrupt change. “MoHUA flagged significant concerns regarding the new code to the Cabinet Secretariat, highlighting an anticipated rise in construction costs of over 20% for residential projects and up to 50% for infrastructure initiatives. Questions were raised about the technical feasibility of some mandates in Zone VI, alongside inadequate consultations with industry stakeholders prior to the code’s announcement,” stated an official familiar with the matter.
The consensus was that the new seismic zones and design regulations were overly theoretical and failed to account for the fact that even current seismic construction standards are not adequately met. Implementing a more stringent framework, when existing rules are poorly followed, was seen as impractical. Many also believed the 2025 risk assessment was exaggerated, given the relative stability of the country’s earthquake profile over the past decade.
Previously, India’s landmass was categorized into four seismic zones: II, III, IV, and V. The November 2025 BIS announcement introduced Zone VI, encompassing the entire Himalayan arc from Jammu & Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, which was split between Zones IV and V. Furthermore, several cities were reclassified to high-risk zones, with any city adjacent to two seismic zones being categorized in the higher-risk zone, affecting numerous areas from Jaipur to Ahmedabad to Alwar. The new code also proposed various safety enhancements, such as retrofitting vital infrastructure, including hospitals and schools, reinforcing non-structural building elements, and enforcing rigorous verification standards for earthquake-resistant construction in real estate projects.
