Indicating that the growth of the auto industry was back on track, Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Friday said that there were no plans of giving any new package for the automobile sector this fiscal.
Annual convention
“We have already given relief to the automobile industry this year, which includes duty cuts. We will evaluate and find out if anything more is needed to be done for the industry in the next budget,” Mr. Deshmukh said while talking to journalists at the annual convention of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
The Centre had announced special package for the automobile sector after domestic sales and exports were badly hit due to the global economic slowdown.
He said the auto industry was optimistic about the sector’s growth this fiscal, but if the drought situation worsened, it could have some impact on overall sales, particularly in rural areas. “Overall, the economy will slowdown, particularly the rural economy, so naturally sales of two-wheelers and other medium vehicles will be hit,” he said.
Design institute
Earlier, addressing the convention, the Minister said that the government had started the process for setting up an automobile design institute.
“The ambitious project was in the planning stage and it will be a common facility for all manufacturers. For heavy vehicles, we will seek assistance from foreign countries,” he said.
“The ‘National Auto Design’ centre is a priority as was the Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) project which will provide unique and better testing opportunities to manufacturers and help them bring down costs, as such facilities are at present available abroad only,” he added.
Mr. Deshmukh asked the automobile industry to play a proactive role while dealing with environmental and climate change issues and urged the auto manufacturers to promote alternative fuel technologies wholeheartedly.
