Comments
As the automobile sales grew in 2023, the automotive components manufacturers also grew hand-in-hand and recorded one of the best years. And, not only in the domestic market, but also in exports and after markets. businessline caught up with Shradha Suri Marwah, President, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), to know her views for Indian automotive industry in 2024. Edited excerpts: -
The year 2023 was one of the best years in terms of sales for overall auto industry. Do you see the trend to continue next year?
It’s really been a good year. We have shown a growth of 12.6 per cent in the first half (H1) of FY2023-24, we are also expecting a double digit growth in H2. So, I think all segments are growing – domestic market grew, exports also grew though slightly low, but grown nevertheless and aftermarket too grew.
Do you see any impact of the geopolitical issues around the world to the industry next year?
Right now, we don’t see it and I cannot speak about next year. Right now supply chain issues for us in India seem to be stable.
The two-wheeler industry has seen a mixed trend in 2023.
The two-wheeler actually picked up...the festive season has been good for the sector. So we are hopeful that trend will continue.
What about on the commercial vehicle side?
I think commercial vehicle segment is now picking up and that is expected to grow because as infrastructure grows, commercial vehicle sales will also grow. Also, with good crop you get good outlay on infrastructure too.
The 2024 being an election year, do we see some kind of trajectory in the auto industry?
The industry is growing on its own trajectory so don’t see any change...I don’t have the confirmed projections for next year, but IMF data says India is going to grow at that rate of five per cent so I am hoping that our sector will grow slightly better than that.
How about in the electric vehicle segment, which is also growing at its own pace?
If you look at the EV segment, in the passenger vehicle, the EV’s contribution was 2.4 per cent last year, which has grown up to 3.8 per cent in the first half of this year. Base is small, but it is growing. If you look at PV space, the whole pie is growing – while the EV is growing so is the ICE (internal combustion engine). So, the whole pie together is growing.
In 2023, we saw a lot of policies come into play including the production-linked incentives for many. But, they have not taken off well till now...
I think whatever policies that have come out for our sector have been very well thought through and very supportive of the sector...it has a process and things will happen accordingly.
On the import side, China still seems to be contributing the highest, in the auto components sector? When do you expect to see a change in that?
Over the last five years, we have set ourselves a target of reducing imports by two-three per cent, but we have actually reduced it by six-seven per cent. So, localisation actually grew and as time is going by, localisation will grow, scale will come and automatically imports will drop. The total pie of imports is reducing...of the China may be a big contributor, but the pie itself is reducing.
Our exports seem to have been doing better...
The rate of growth of exports is more than the rate of imports so that’s a good news. Last year also the gap between the total exports and imports was very little (around $200 million) and currently for H1 is also around $200 million only.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.