“ACMA should aim at making the industry achieve exports worth $100 billion by 2030,” said Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food & Public Distribution and Textiles, at the ACMA Annual Convention Forum 2022 in New Delhi on Wednesday.
He said that while some emerging markets have the potential to grow by 2-3% per year, it is 8% in the case of India and a conscious effort from the industry can even boost this to 10%.
Goyal added that both the central and a host of state governments have recognised that the auto component industry is the one sector which has huge potential. It creates jobs, encourages skill development, values talent and has a huge impact on society.
Earlier, during his keynote address at the convention forum, R Dinesh, President - Designate, CII, and Executive Vice-Chairman, TVS Supply Chain Solutions, said the $19 billion auto parts exports recorded last year could be trebled in three years as there were enough opportunities to be availed of.
Vinod Aggarwal, Vice-President, SIAM, and MD & CEO, VE Commercial Vehicles, agreed that the industry had huge export opportunities.
Changing With The Evolving Scenarios
During the last two years the automotive industry has gone through a massive downturn thanks to the pandemic which, in turn, led to major supply chain issues.
However, Goyal said it had displayed massive resilience and overcome the situation quite well. “The worst is over now,” he added.
“Auto sales over the last couple of months reflect that we are getting the mojo back which will also resonate in the component industry,' said the Minister while confident that this marked an inflection point from where the industry will continue to achieve new heights.
Semiconductor supplies have been a key area of focus where 'we have pledged government support of INR 76,000 crore' while the Vedanta-Foxconn duo is now taking the story forward with a new chip plant planned in in Gujarat.
Going ahead, the future of mobility will be connected, convenient, clean and cutting edge, Goyal said, which implied that component makers would need to adapt themselves to the change.
It was important, therefore, to focus on key aspects such as quality, he added. If the industry produced high quality products, there was no way India would not be able to compete with the world...else.' we will have to depend on imports for years to come'.
Value chain is the other aspect to focus on, continued Goyal. Value-addition would be an important element of the industry's growth story and “I would urge each one of you to look at the areas where we can have greater value-addition in India”.
Thinking holistically was as important . “Industry has demonstrated that vision and I hope you will continue to have that same spirit of openness,” he said.
Rather than being competitive, he urged stakeholders to engage with counterparts in and around the ecosystem since it was vital to 'think of the industry as a whole' which would not only help achieve its targets but in the India growth story.
Ganesh Mani S, President and Chief of Operations, Ashok Leyland, said the next 10-15 years would be exciting for the industry while driving home the point that India was among the few countries to see positive growth in the CV space.
Aggarwal rieterated that the future of mobility would also depend on climate change and it was important to offer appropriate mobility for specific geographies.
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