The plight of CV industry

It was by accident that I stumbled upon the CV magazine webinar video, ‘CV industry shifts gears’, involving the participation of VG Ramakrishnan, Managing Partner, Avanteum Advisors; Kaushik Madhavan, VP - Mobility, Frost & Sullivan; Mahendra Arya, President, AITWA, and Prasanna Patwardhan, President, BOCI, on Youtube. It made for a good insight into how the CV industry is currently meeting the challenges in front of it, and if it is getting the help expected of the Government due to Covid-19. It came as a shock to listen to Mahendra Arya and Prasanna Patwardhan that the Government hasn’t provided any help to the truck and bus segments. It may be easy for Patwardhan to say that they would park their buses in front of the RTO and call it quits, the fact is, there is more at stake than the naked eye can see. There are businesses at stake with so many employees on the roll. There are people like drivers who are regarded for their skill and are not easy to replace. If one would consider the amount of people the truck and bus industry employs, it is quite unusual for the Government to have not paid attention to their problems and offered help. While it is also necessary to understand the story on the other side, relaxations in terms of taxation, road toll, insurance, and a safety cover to drivers as frontlines warriors are some of the factors the Government could consider in the interest of economy and how the sector could contribute to the nation’s GDP. Rahul Bhardwaj, Delhi