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It is quite distressing that the spuri-
ous spares trade currently accounts for
36 per cent of the Rs. 330-billion Indian
automotive aftermarket. Causing an an-
nual employment loss of 1.15 million
jobs and an additional consumption of
110 million litres of petrol and eight mil-
lion litres of diesel, the use of counterfeit
products results in a growing number of
road accidents involving serious damage
to vehicles as well as enormous loss of
property and precious human lives. The
global automotive sector is reportedly
losing $12 billion to counterfeiting. The
increasingly higher number of vehicles of different types and models plying
on roads, though encouraging growthwise, spawns a ruthlessly menacing spu-
rious spares industry. Products such as filters, spark plugs, bearings, pistons &
piston rings, etc., are among products which are more prone to counterfeiting.
Till recently the trend among spares distributors was to give top priority to
supplies to the OEM line, with less importance attached to the spares mar-
ket. This was found to encourage the unorganised sector to supply counterfeit
products with least restrictions. Now there has been a distinct shift in focus,
and the Indian supply base caters to mounting spares demand through both
the OEM channel and its own independent aftermarket channel. Further, with
the geographical spread of dealerships and parts availability, it is hoped that
spurious spares won’t get replaced into the vehicles. The other remedies sug-
gested to end the menace are adequate scale of operations in serving a vast
base of retailers with a rich enough basket of parts, quick service response to
customer demand and smart warehousing as well as logistics infrastructure
facilities to reach products to customers in time.
Of utmost significance in this context is the SIAM-ACMA joint strategy
to tackle the spurious spares issue, which revolves round the ACMA White
Paper brought out last year. The paper highlighted the various enactments
under the existing legislative framework, with its special recommendations.
The most notable among the enactments is the automobile industry demand
for amending the Motor Vehicles Act that sets standards for components
and parts for vehicles. Considering the magnitude of the problem, a solution
will remain elusive unless a concerted drive by all the interests concerned is
launched forthwith to check counterfeiting.
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Edited & Published by R. Natarajan on
behalf of Gopali & Co., Quanta Zen Building,
No.38, Thomas Road, 2nd Street, T.Nagar,
Chennai-17, and Printed by B. Ashok Kumar
at Rathna Offset Printers, 40, Peters Road,
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Editorial
www.motorindiaonline.com
It’s time to act
R. Natarajan, Managing Editor & Publisher
MOTORINDIA
8
MOTORINDIA
l
July 2012