New Delhi: The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers welcomed the ‘visionary’ budget and complimented Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Kenichi Ayukawa, President, SIAM said, “The budget focuses on three broad themes, Remedy the current challenges post-Covid through focus on human health and asset reconstruction, Give a major impetus to infrastructure with a 5-year roadmap for fiscal consolidation, Take bold measures for enhancing efficiency and competitiveness like privatization, competition in power distribution companies, CGD expansion in 100 more districts and enablers like infrastructure financing. A good macro-economic growth will translate to good demand for the Auto Sector also.”
SIAM in its press release stated, the announcement of major highway projects with a sizable increase in infrastructure outlay will help revive demand for both commercial vehicles and private vehicles.
The allocation for procurement of 20,000 buses will directly benefit the industry. The addition of 100 new districts to the City Gas Distribution network for natural gas will help clean, efficient and affordable mobility for the country.
While SIAM awaits the details of the Vehicle Scrappage scheme, it hopes and requests that fitness testing and certification should be much earlier and at frequent intervals to ensure safety, environment friendliness and fuel saving.
The reduction in customs duty on some steel grades, and revoking of countervailing duty and anti-dumping duty on certain steel products is a welcome step. Since Platinum, Palladium and Rhodium are not available in India and are essential for emission control, their duty could have been made nil.
The increase in customs duty on Auto parts/Lithium ion cell parts is of concern and is likely to increase cost of manufacturing automobiles, wherever indigenization is yet to happen.