Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 11 (ANI/NewsVoir): Sundaram-Clayton Limited (SCL), a leading auto component manufacturing and distribution group, announced R Gopalan, Non-Executive Independent Director of the Company as Chairman of the Board effective April 01, 2022.

Hosur (Tamil Nadu) [India], February 1 (ANI/NewsVoir): "Union Budget 2022 sets the pace for the Indian Economy's growth trajectory amidst the challenges brought forth by the pandemic.

New Delhi [India], November 9 (ANI/NewsVoir): Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company, was today presented the prestigious Padma Bhushan Award by the President of India, Ram Nath Kovind, at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

New Delhi Aug 25 PTI Auto industry leaders RC Bhargava of Maruti Suzuki India and Venu Srinivasan of TVS Motor on Wednesday hit out at government officials for only paying lip service to the sector and not taking any concrete action to reverse the decline in growth over the past few years Speaking at industry body SIAMs 61st Annual Convention the veteran industry leaders wondered if contribution of the auto industry towards Indias growth is being recognised and lamented that cars seem to be still considered as luxury that only the rich could afford We have been going through a situation where this industry has been declining over a long period of time Bhargava who is the Chairman of the countrys largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India said Earlier in the day highlighting the achievements of the auto industry Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant said It will be impossible for India to grow at high rates for a long period of time without the automobile sector being the key driver of Indias growth There have been a lot of statements made about the importance of the automobile industry but in terms of concrete actions which would reverse the decline I havent seen any action on the ground Bhargava said Bhargava further asserted Im afraid words dont get us very much in the terms of extra sales but you need concrete action to make this happen High tax structures additional costs in order to meet new emission norms and safety norms have led to increase in cost of automobiles thereby making them unaffordable for consumers he said I dont think the car industry would revive either with ICEs internal combustion engines or with the CNG biofuels and such things or EVs unless we address the question of affordability of cars for the customer Bhargava asserted Expressing similar views TVS Motor Company Chairman and Managing Director Venu Srinivasan said a two-wheeler which is the basic mode of transportation for the country is being taxed at 28 per cent GST the highest and at a level equal to that of a luxury product He said the Indian automobile industry which provides direct and indirect employment to 30 million people has moved from importing and assembling to designing and making in India with both homegrown firms and MNCs making large investments in design infrastructure However he wondered At the same time I would like to say are we being recognised Is the automotive industry being recognised for what it has contributed to employment to revenues and to earning of foreign exchange Earlier in the day highlighting the achievements of the auto industry Kant said Manufacturing in India is driven by the automobile sector Without the automobile sector India cannot be a manufacturing nation and India cannot grow at higher rates for a long time Kant had also said the transition of automobiles towards electric mobility is inevitable and it is for the auto industry to make the change and drive it to make India a global leader in EVs Responding to the views of the industry leaders Revenue Secretary Tarun Bajaj asked automakers to do a deeper analysis on why car sales are not going up even though income levels of people are rising and exhorted the industry to keep pace with changing technology Stating that the Indian auto industry has grown not because of policy decisions but because of peoples aspirations Bhargava said even at present there has not been a change in the mindset of policy planners When Maruti came into existence I dont think anybody ever expected that Maruti would grow the way it has grown The car industry in India would grow to the extent where we have become -- number four in the world or that there would be a global presence of most car manufacturers in the Indian scene but that has happened he said It is largely because the people in this country have a great aspiration to own a car and not because there was any deliberate policy which led this to happen Bhargava asserted Which again I think supports my view that the change in the mindset of planners about the importance of the car industry and generally of the automobile industry remains confined to words and doesnt get translated into action the veteran auto industry leader said Bhargava said he totally supported the view put forth by Kant about the importance of moving to electrification I totally agree that we have to move to electrification theres no question But along with a decision to move for electrification again the whole question of affordability of the EVs and Im talking about four-wheelers at the moment he stated Bhargava said if the auto industry is to drive the economy and the manufacturing sector the penetration of cars in India has to move from 25 or 30 per 1000 to even 200 per 1000 which requires millions of cars to be made every year Are we sure that we have enough customers in India who have the means to buy these millions of cars every year Is income going up that fast Are jobs growing up that fast I think those aspects are often ignored when we make our plans of what we are going to do and whats going to happen he noted We have always forgotten customers in the centralised planning system because the customer didnt matter And we still dont think of the customers when we plan Will the customers be able to afford this product or not Bhargava said PTI MSS RKL DRR DRR