Indian Auto Industry Implores The Government To Have Stable Policies

The motto of the 57th Annual Convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) was 'Building the nation responsibly'. And in light of the SIAM Convention, one of the thoughts that the entire auto industry echoed as one was that of having stable policies for the manufacturing sector. The Indian auto industry is gunning for competitiveness, better products and the move from BS IV to BS VI by 2020. That could only happen with the support of the government in this journey of growth. The first and foremost plan should be to focus on creating the right ecosystem. This includes setting up of education and research institutions for the auto industry in particular. Countries such as Germany and Britain have such institutions in function.

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The right ecosystem also includes creating high-quality research and development clusters for the auto industry. Few such clusters are in Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and one coming up in Sanand, Gujarat as well. In order to supplement the same, the government should also look at automotive specific infrastructure. One of the examples could be dedicated facilities for automobiles for auto exports at Indian ports.

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The second point to focus on is to make stable policies. Frequent disruptions in policies need the companies to re-work their outlook and plans, which is not good for the industry as a whole. The areas where the auto industry needs policies on are environmental norms and safety regulations, Inspection and certification regime and most importantly end-of-life regime.

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Thirdly, the auto industry needs an environment where they are allowed to invest good amounts in future technologies. Currently, there is little focus on areas such as battery technologies, sensors etc. And lastly, the auto industry has requested the government to refine trade policies which incorporate a long term vision in it as well. The government should rationalise the duty structure on raw materials and sub-assemblies. The trade and tariff policies should be kept stable and free of disruptions. The government should also look at entering into free trade agreements (FTAs) with more and more countries, which will only benefit the Indian auto industry in the long run.