Auto-parts makers face job losses

INDIA's small and medium-sized auto-component industry, whose workforce is estimated at about 5 million, is facing job losses as it is at a crossroads as automakers rush to produce more electric vehicles (EVs). Millions more are employed in informal repairs and maintenance.

In a first, the Tamil Nadu state government initiated a mapping of this supply chain last month, in an effort to understand the impacts on companies and their workers of the transition to making cleaner cars and scooters.

‘We know for a fact that there will be a serious loss of business,' said V. Arun Roy, secretary of the Tamil Nadu department for medium, small and micro enterprises, adding that they will have to be prepared for the hit.

‘At present, there is not enough information on who and how many will be impacted. Mapping this data is essential to plan for the EV transition, which is inevitable,' he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.