Auto firms deman policy shift to mak vehicles affordabl

India’s automobile industry on Wednesday asked the government to frame policies that would make vehicle purchases more affordable for customers in a bid to revive sales, impacted by factors such as high prices and the Covid pandemic.

Speaking at the annual convention of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam), senior executives at top automakers said that such a move would help the industry stage a recovery in sales, especially of passenger cars and twowheelers.

Automobile sales in India have been on the downtrend since the second half of FY19 when the bankruptcy of Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services caused a liquidity crisis among non-banking financial companies (NBFCS), which are some of the major lenders to the auto industry.

Higher fuel prices, weak consumer sentiment in a slowing economy and a rise in vehicle operations came to a hal May due to a strict nation lockdown. The second c wave derailed a possible re ery in the June quarter.

R.C. Bhargava, chairma Maruti Suzuki, said automo sales have been declining be the outbreak of the pande and not many policy meas have been announced to ar the decline. New regulat such as Bharat Stage VI emis norms and higher taxes imp by states have made entry-l cars unaffordable for buyer

“We have to take into acc the economic status of peop India. I don’t think the indu will revive, be it internal c bustion engine or electric, un we tackle the question of aff ability of customers,” he sai

He said new regulations BS-VI have added ₹22,000 to cost of an entry-level car Alto. This coupled with t imposed by states have mad increase substantial for a p sensitive customer.

India’s two-wheeler ma have also been urging the U government to reduce goods services tax imposed on e