Auto Parts Asia — October 2017

48 | AutoPartsAsia | OCTOBER 2017

CONVENTION

“W

e should move

towards alternative

fuel. The industry

must move towards

zero emission regime with electric

vehicles.I am going to do this, whether

you like it or not. And I am not going

to ask you, I will bulldoze it,” India’s

Union Minister for Road Transport

and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, told the

57th annual convention of the Society

of Indian Automobile Manufacturers

(SIAM).

“A Cabinet note on electric vehicles is

ready and it will take care of charging

stations”, the Minister said at the

convention with the theme: ‘Building

the Nation, Responsibly’. He called

upon India’s automotive industry to

gear up to face the competition heating

up in the international market.

The Minister said the convention theme

“gels well with the Government of India

initiative: ‘SANKALP Se SIDDHI’. I am

proud to say that the auto industry has

always been one among the leading

players in our nation building, and

that too responsibly. When it comes to

sustainable and environment-friendly

transportation, the Indian auto industry

took up the challenge and agreed to

go through the pain of leapfrogging

towards better environment by

accepting BS VI norms from April 1,

2020.”

The Minister was bullish on the size and

market of the Indian auto industry and

directly linked it to India’s GDP growth.

He pointed out that as more vehicles

are coming on road, the government

will have to increase lanes of roads and

highways to meet the demand.He also

informed that the demand for cars has

increased in the last three years.

“This is something big that the country

cannot handle with the existing

infrastructure alone. The industry and

the government must come up with a

diversified solution. We need to bring

in qualitative reforms in the automotive

sector and expand the scope of rural

transportation while bringing in newer

technologies and encourage electric

vehicles,” Gadkari said.

The government was also focusing

on alternate fuel technologies, and

would establish 15 new industries

under the petroleum ministry mainly

to manufacture ethanol and methanol

bio-fuels, the Minister said. He

requested the automotive industry

to make investments in new engine

technologies that can be powered

by bio-fuels such as LNG, ethanol,

methanol, and others.

Anant G Geete, Union Minister

for Heavy Industries and Public

Enterprises, said India’s automobile

industry has been a primary contributor

to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s

‘Make in India’ initiative. He also

launched the voluntary vehicle recall

initiative by SIAM.The industry veterans

who were present at the convention

also agreed that electrification was

imminent and companies need to take

necessary action.

“The most important disruption is

electrification. It is something certainly

going to happen by 2030 or 2040, I

cannot say. But at least 30 percent

of the vehicle will be electric,” Venu

Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor

Company Limited, said.He said that

India is a player in the global market

but it should also be an original

engineer as well. “We in the automotive

industry must have an approach to

move on from Make in India to Made

in India. We have created excellent

clusters in Chennai, Bengaluru, and

now Uttarakhand has become a very

India To Bulldoze Move

To Alternative Fuel

APA Bureau