“I am proud to say that the auto industry has
always been one among the leading players in our nation building, and that too
responsibly. When it comes to sustainable and environment friendly
transportation, the Indian auto industry took up the challenge and agreed to go
through the pain of leapfrogging towards better environment by accepting BS6
norms from 1st April 2020,” he observed.
However, at the same time, the
industry also needs to move towards Zero Emission regime with electric
vehicles, he added. Although the minister was bullish on the size and market of
Indian auto industry and directly linked it to India’s GDP growth, he pointed
out that as more vehicles are coming on road, the government will have to
increase lanes of roads and highways to meet the demand.
He also informed that the
demand of cars have increased in past three years. “This is something big that
the country cannot handle in the existing infrastructure alone. The industry
and the government must come up with a diversified solution. We need to bring
in qualitative reforms in the automobile sector and expand the scope of rural transportation
while bringing in newer technologies and encourage electric vehicles,” Gadkari
asserted.
Venu
Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company Limited was of the view that the
GST and demonetisation will make a transparent economy.
“The most important disruption is the electrification.
It is something certainly going to happen by 2030 or 2040, I cannot say. But at
least 30 per cent of the vehicle will be electric,” Srinivasan said.
Kenichi Ayukawa, Treasurer, SIAM and Managing Director & CEO,
Maruti Suzuki India Limited called India as a unique country where the auto
industry offers a large scale employment. He however pointed out that there are
some concerns like issues related to CO2 emissions, growing traffic and accidents.
He said some of the bottlenecks concerning
vehicles can be mitigated while working on appropriate designing of the
vehicle.
Government
will do everything and help the industry by all means, says Anant G Geete
In another session during the
day, Union Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Anant G Geete
said India’s automobile industry has been a primary contributor to Prime
Minister Narendra Modi’s `Make in India’ initiative.
“We as the guardian of the automobile sector,
assure you that the government will do everything and help the industry by all
means. There are concerns raised over Goods and Services Tax, unified tax
regime implemented on July 1 and its impact on auto industry. I assure you that
it is the duty of the government to offer all help to the industry in this
regard,” Geete stated.
Amitabh Kant, CEO of NITI Aayog, government’s
main policy think-tank, pointed out that there has to be clarity, consistency
and continuity in the policy and that all policies for auto sector should be
technology agnostic and left to the market forces for its self-sustaining
growth. He said that over- dependence on a single technology may scuttle the
R& D spirit, innovations and out of the box thinking which may not be
helpful for automotive sector.
He pointed out that India’s
automobile industry must think of the size and scale that is required and must
follow innovation plans. “The conventional regulatory policies in the
automobile sector so far have been incremental and gradual. However, the recent
decisions like leapfrogging to BS-VI emission norms, 100 % electric vehicles by
2030, methanol economy and fuel efficiency norms are transformational and will
have fundamental impact on entire automotive ecosystem without any transitional
phase,” Kant observed. This is one of the most disruptive phases for the
automotive industry globally, he added.
“We should have India as hub
for EV growth,” he added. He also called upon the industry to formulate and
suggest overall policy for EV promotion. He said India should be the base for
zero defect and zero effect’ and with homegrown innovations, India should be
the base of manufacturing.
Earlier while welcoming the
delegates Vinod K Dasari, President SIAM and CEO & MD of Ashok Leyland urged
the government to create a National Automotive Board which considers the
concerns of all factions and then prepares a clear and ambitious, long term
roadmap for regulations that are in the best interest of the country. “We do
not need to simply copy the regulations from Europe,” he pointed out.
He also appealed to the
government to bring in legislation to reduce polluting vehicles and ban
vehicles which are more than 15 years old. “To reduce pollution we have
committed to Euro 6 levels in 2020 already. We request that you please bring in
legislation to reduce polluting vehicles and ban vehicles which are more than
15 years old,” Dasari explained.
He also announced that as a
voluntary measure, SIAM will initiate three more Voluntary Codes of Practice a
Full compliance to the Bus Body Code which is ready but yet to be implemented
by government, banning use of certain materials in the manufacturing processes
for vehicles and components that are now globally known to have hazardous
effects on the health of people; and making all Vehicle Recall data available
on the SIAM and the MoHI Websites for public consumption.
SMEV hails statement
of Amitabh Kant
Meanwhile, hailing the statement
of Amitabh Kant, CEO NITI Aayog, Sohinder Gill, Director- Corporate Affairs,
SMEV said, “SMEV is working closely with NITI Aayog and Government for
widespread EV adoption in India, this collaboration has resulted in creating
favourable policy environment. Short term measures and incentives for the
existing manufacturers are the need of the hour. We propose front loading of
the incentives for the initial six months or one year so that the sizeable mass
of EVs are seen on road. Long term incentives can follow the short term
incentives later.”
“We have recommended to
various Government organizations for addressing the concerns of the Industry
like enhanced subsidies for EVs from NITI Aayog, extension of FAME from
Department of Heavy Industries, EV 2W priority in battery swapping module from
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, Uniform GST rates for EVs and advanced
batteries from Ministry of Finance, replacing commercial two wheelers with EVs
- Ministry of Road Transport & `Highways, easy finance priority lending
from banks to EVs - State Govt./ Ministry
of Finance, etc.” Gill added.