The new government has given the ailing Indian automotive industry a much needed hope to come out of one of its worst days. They presented their first budget day before yesterday and let us have a look at how various manufactures and experts responded to it.
Dr Pawan Goenka, Executive Director, Mahindra and Mahindra sees the budget as a very interesting way in which the government wants to run the nation in the next nine months. Even he sees the budget to be centred on infrastructure, manufacturing and rural schemes which will directly as well as indirectly help in boosting the automotive industry. However he did sound disappointed at no incentive announcement for electric vehicles.
Mr Vinay Piparsania, Executive Director, Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford India, also had a similar reaction to the budget and specifically commended the continuation of the central excise benefits for the automotive sector.
Mr Arvind Saxena, President and Managing Director, General Motors India, calls the budget reform oriented but only a reality check would help us gauge how much these reforms help in bringing positive impact to the sector.
Mr Kenichiro Yomura, President Nissan India Operations, also sees a positive impact as well as better buying sentiments however, he specifically mentions that he wanted to see some initiatives towards green vehicles which could have helped them bring their electric and hybrid vehicles to the country.
Mr Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, JCB India, believes that the Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects would be beneficial for the sector and help the sector come out from the dark ages!
Mr Joe King, Head, Audi India, welcomed the announcements related to infrastructure growth such as development of 100 smart cities and rural roads development. He also believes that the auto industry will be one of the beneficiaries of increased savings due to direct and indirect tax proposals.
Overall though the biggest concern everyone had was that the government wants to follow the GST regime which is commendable but a more definitve roadmap for the same would have been much helpful. A few manufacturers did showcase their displeasure on no major announcements for electric and hybrid vehicles.