India
Interior requirements in India.
India has a national law on accessibility, a national accessibility guideline that designs are measured against, and a National Building Code that is a model rather than the law. What applies to your project also depends on the state and the local body.
On this page
Review guidance, not legal advice. Which document binds a project — and at which revision — is confirmed with the local authority for that project.
The instruments
The instruments, named
Four documents do most of the work in an interior discussion, and only one of them is law by itself.
Confusion
Three things people call "the code"
The three are often quoted interchangeably in design meetings, and they do not have the same force.
The law
The RPwD Act and the rules made under it create the obligation, and they create it nationally. It is not a design document — it tells you that accessibility is required, not which dimension applies.
The guideline
The Harmonised Guidelines and Space Standards are the technical reference: what a barrier-free environment looks like in practice. This is the document interior drawings are usually measured against.
The model code
The National Building Code of India is published by BIS as a model. Until a state, city or authority adopts or references it, it is guidance rather than enforceable local law.
Variation
Why the answer depends on the state
Building regulation in India is substantially local. Two projects with identical drawings can have different applicable documents because they are in different states.
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States adopt, amend or ignore the model code
Many states' building rules reference the National Building Code, some adopt their own rules, and the revision adopted varies. The edition in force is a local fact.
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Local bodies add their own conditions
Municipal by-laws, development authority conditions and project-specific approvals can impose requirements the national documents do not mention.
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Both city and state can be relevant
Where a project sits under more than one authority, the applicable requirement is whichever is in force for that site — and it is worth confirming in writing rather than inferring from a similar project elsewhere.
Distinction
Harmonised Guidelines are not code adoption
This is the distinction that causes the most confusion, so it is worth stating plainly.
The Harmonised Guidelines are
- A national accessibility guideline with space standards for the built environment
- The technical reference designers use, and which rules and codes reference
- Applied by projects as the standard for accessible design regardless of adoption mechanics
- Revised over time — confirm which revision your authority expects
They are not
- A replacement for state building rules or local by-laws
- Automatically the enforceable document on every project in every state
- The same thing as the National Building Code, which is a model code
- A certification, a permit or an approval of any design
Read the accessibility page for what the guidelines mean on an interior drawing.
Coverage
ROMURE's India coverage
Partial India coverage — the Harmonised Accessibility Guidelines 2021
The Harmonised Guidelines are an active, verified pack: accessibility and space standards applied to the projects and scopes the pack was encoded for. It is partial coverage, and deliberately so. The National Building Code of India is a model code and is carried as a manifest only, so no NBC conclusion is produced; state and local building rules vary, so no statewide or nationwide conclusion is produced either.
Drawing-based review — geometry, dimension, clearance, coordination and schedule checks — runs today, and each finding states its basis. See the service review and the coverage table.
Keep going
What to read next.
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