With electric vehicle set to drive the future, automobile makers do not have a choice but to switch if they wished to remain in business, said Sunil Kant Munjal, Chairman of Hero Enterprises and one of the founder promoters of the Hero Group, here in an interaction with press persons on Friday.
The direction on electric vehicles is very clear. It is a question of pace when it happens. The automotive industry may fight this for a while, but cannot resist (the change), he said, pointing to how “enough pressure of technology, competition and public opinion is driving in the direction of EVs”.
The switch, however, has to be supported with some initiatives such as the massive subsidies and support programme in the US. The required resources, he added, have to come from both public and private sources. Describing the drive towards EVs as a structural change, he said “it is pretty obvious today that the automotive industry will change. They have to change. They will not have a choice. Companies will either have to do it or get out of the business.”
In the city for a discussion on ‘India turns 75’ organised by Mindmine Institute, an independent think tank set up by Hero Enterprises, he was responding to queries on the disruption that EVs would bring for the automotive industry and the impact on the large investments made.
Mr. Munjal, who spoke on a issues concerning the economy said, the demonetisation exercise and GST implementation were structural changes that would deliver benefit in the long run. On GST, he said structural changes can take anywhere between six months and two years to have full impact.
Demonestisation, he said, was one of the major structural changes that brought massive amount of disruption. “As an idea it is fantastic (but) I do think it could have been implemented differently. The pain could have been lesser because what happened is that the most vulnerable suffered the most. The benefits are many, already beginning to show… generation of black money has come down” he said.
The (NDA) government continues with the pace of forward-looking reforms next year and does its electioneering campaigning, politicking in parallel “then I see no risk to our potential for growth,” he hoped, adding that India can grow at the rate of 14%.
