The second day of the Auto Expo Component Show saw the ACMA President, Mr. Nirmal Minda, busily showing the top management of global automotive brands the talent and ability of various Indian auto component suppliers. Using the capacity of his office, he assured the world of the capability and innovations that Indian automotive sector can offer.
He said: “This is an opportunity for the automotive component manufacturers to showcase their technology, ability and their capacity to develop and design parts, in R&D and in innovation. ACMA is attempting to offer the top management of global OEMs a glimpse of our small scale sector and the start-ups and the level of innovations that are being developed here. This is in the view that the availability of it all can be integrated into their designs of new vehicles if the wish is there. This is a good platform for them to know the new trends in the industry not just in India but around the world.”
Top Trends
Recounting the top trends in the automotive component sector, Mr. Minda shared: “The top-most trend would be that of connectivity, followed environment concerns and then comes safety-critical items. These are the three areas which are being focused on by the industry worldwide and including in India.”
He opined that safety has already become a top priority for passenger car segment whereas where connectivity is concerned it is one area which will see a further spurt in development because today’s youth wishes for more infotainment right at their finger-tips and app-based features are more a norm than exception. Hence the industry is also completely geared up to that extent.
AMP 2026
During the inaugural session on Day 1 of the Auto Expo, Mr. Minda had requested for integration of the Automotive Mission Plan 2026 in the proposed industrial policy being framed by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry. He urged the ministers of both this and the Ministry of Heavy Industries to work together to give the automotive manufacturing industry its due share.
He further explained: “It is a great initiative by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and this new industrial policy- which is yet to be finalized – is coming to fruition after a gap of 15 years. Automotive component manufacturers are also part of the industry and we contribute 20 per cent to the entire economy. We as the auto manufacturers are 50 per cent of the entire manufacturing sector in terms of both turnover and employment. We are drafting AMP 2026 and we have suggested to both the ministries that all the key areas must be inter-linked so that there could be three main integrations that can be made. First would be employment, then infrastructure and the kind of GDP that the government expects from the automotive industry. We would like to know how our automotive sector can further help the country’s GDP. And what if when the auto sector can contribute say up to 10 per cent but the industrial policy may expect 15 per cent from us? So instead of being at cross purposes, there should be integration on issues such as indigenous R&D, Make in India and what percentage of Make in India is permitted under the industrial policy, the extent of localization under Make in India program, besides issues like the kind of import duty that will be in effect.”
Mr. Minda shared that the auto sector has welcomed the receptiveness of the two ministries and were happy with the assurance extended to both the ministers that ‘they will work together on these issues’.
Challenges ahead
According to Mr. Minda, technology is a major challenge in the auto component industry today where the talent and the expertise can see much more improvement than what is available currently. He said, “Right now, most of the vehicles are designed abroad other than the local OEMs, especially in the passenger car segment. So our supplier base cannot be involved from the scratch. Our second challenge is capacity. We have volumes increasing but the component manufacturers are afraid of increasing their capacities because the policy is not clear. A cohesive roadmap is yet to be announced, though the government is open and receptive of our concerns. Third concern is of sustainability in our skills – coming up to the global mark and maintaining that though we have come a long way.”
As the ACMA President, Mr. Minda is urging the auto component sector to focus more closely on working towards Zero Defects.