Government Recommends Expansion Of Auto Industry's Vehicle Portfolio

Damle said, "If you look at special purpose vehicles, whether its mining equipment or infrastructure machinery, we do lack. The portfolio of the auto industry is narrow. Probably, we feel that it needs to be more widened."

Addressing SIAM's 56th annual convention, he highlighted the industry's focus on select categories and lack of it for others kinds of vehicles. And talking about the subject of fuel-efficiency norms, Damle called upon the industry to embrace the challenge associated with the plan to implement of BS-VI emission norms from April 2020. He said, "This is one area where everybody is concerned... another one area is scrapping policy."

Other than fuel-efficiency, the government has also been dedicatedly pursuing the cause of hybrid and electric vehicles - the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric vehicles (FAME) India initiative is a prime example. In fact, Union Minister Anant Geete said that such vehicles need an investment of Rs. 14,000 crore in India, which would help save fuel worth Rs. 60,000 crore annually.