New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) Already grappling with a consumption slowdown, the road ahead for the Indian automobile industry seems to be "difficult" due to the upcoming transition from BS-IV emission norms to BS-VI, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers President Rajan Wadhera said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations' Auto Retail Conclave 2019, he noted that even as the industry faces the sales slowdown, OEMs have been investing Rs 1,000 crore, on an average, to upgrade their offerings.
The Industry expects a further sales slowdown once the BS-VI norms are implemented. These norms are expected to ramp up prices and further dent consumer sentiments.
The sector has been going through a slowdown due to several reasons including the high goods and services tax (GST) and liquidity crunch.
Besides, Wadhera pointed out that an up-tick in government spending will lead to further demand generation in the economy.
Just a few days back SIAM's President said that the market has still not responded to the various measures initiated by the government to reverse the slowdown that has dented the industry.
To help revive the sector, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced several sops.
These include allowing government departments to buy new vehicles, automobiles purchased till March 31, 2020 to avail the benefit of additional depreciation of 15 per cent, with total depreciation up to 30 per cent, and BS-IV vehicles bought till March 31, 2020 would remain operational for their entire registration period.
On Sunday, almost all major automobile makers in the country reported a huge decline in domestic sales across segments like passenger, commercial and two and three-wheeler vehicles.
Reacting to the dismal sales numbers of various companies for August, Wadhera had said the series of announcements on credit availability and reducing the cost of credit that were made do not seem to have percolated down to the NBFCs which support the bulk of finance for the automotive industry.
--IANS
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