Auto gear shift

■ Sputtering sector gets speed fuel from the government

of EMIs for auto purchases, thereby boosting demand, said

Rajan Wadhera, President at the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, or Siam.

Wadhera said the removal of ban on purchase of vehicles by government department and 15 per cent higher depreciation for all types of vehicles should give a definite boost to vehicle demand in the short-term, especially vehicles meant for commercial use.

The deferment in revision of one-time registration fee until June 2020 is also a very positive step as the industry was reeling under the pressure of price increases and higher registration fee would have further impacted demand negatively, he pointed out.

Siam also welcomed the assurance that a vehicle scrappage policy will be announced soon.

Wadhera said the industry is already in the process of establishing scrapping infrastructure in various parts of the country and the announcement of such a policy will certainly give a boost to large investments in this area.

Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, or Acma, has hailed the government move to infuse liquidity, enhance transparency, fast track GST refunds for MSMEs, expedite capital availability for infrastructure projects and sustaining automotive demand, among others.

“We do hope that measures to improve liquidity and deferring of enhanced vehicle registration cost will revive the ailing sales in the auto sector,” Ram Venkataramani, President at Acma, said.

“All our concerns and suggestions have been listened to seriously and most have been answered with action on the ground,” Ashish Harsharaj Kale, President at Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations, or FADA, said.