Carmakers suggest steps to reboot auto industry post lockdown in India

Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprise Prakash Javadekar on Thursday held a meeting with the auto industry leaders where they suggested ways to restart the industry after the Covid-19 lockdown gets over.

"All the auto industry captains were present in a meeting via video conferencing. The auto sector is a mass employer and contributes the maximum GST amongst all sectors. This industry has a significant contribution to the GDP of the country. Last year, the industry suffered because of a planned migration from BS 4 to BS 6 compliant vehicles. This was one change which made the customers postpone their purchases," Javadekar told media persons after the meeting.

"Overall, there were many discussions and demands of GST cuts, employment support, retail chain support, supplier support, liquidity support. The captains of the auto industry also suggested a few important steps for battling the Covid-19 challenge like batch testing of employees before joining, social distancing, etc," he added.

Javadekar further said that the captains of the industry also praised the way the government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has dealt with the challenge of Covid-19.

The representatives of the auto industry who attended the meeting were Rajan Wadhera, President of SIAM and President, Automotive Sector, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Kenichi Ayukawa, Vice President, SIAM and MD & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Pawan Goenka, Former President, SIAM and MD, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, Pawan Munjal, Chairman and MD, Hero MotoCorp Ltd and Shailesh Chandra, President, Passenger Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors Ltd among others.