The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) recently organised in Chennai a conference on “Automotive R&D Trends: Towards Strengthening Indian Automotive R&D”.
In his inaugural address, Mr. Ambuj Sharma, Additional Secretary, Department of Heavy Industries, said the auto industry is always considered a sunrise sector and Tamil Nadu has emerged as the Detroit of India. The Automotive Mission Plan 2016 (AMP) envisages the industry attaining a $145 million turnover by 2016 as compared to $35 million turnover in 2006. Similarly, employment generation is expected to grow from 11 million to 35 million. As far as the GDP is concerned, it is forecasted to grow from 3.5 per cent to 10 per cent.
The Government is now working towards AMP II for the 2016-2026 decade, and the Vision document would be released in September. Today, the automotive industry in India has three driving forces, namely, regulation, corporate policy and emission & passenger safety, he added.
In his theme address, Mr. Vikram S. Kirloskar, Conference Chairman & Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motor Private Ltd., spoke on the various issues concerning the Indian automotive sector, such as focus on lightweight material, recycling of automobiles and banning of old vehicles. The Japanese giant Toyota sells millions of hybrid vehicles in a year by making a lot of investment into R&D. In India too, most of the automobile manufacturers have established their own R&D centre.
In his special address, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT – Madras, spoke in detail on the various key initiatives taken by the institute.
Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Mr. S.N. Eisenhower, Chairman – CII Tamil Nadu & Director – Operations, Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd., said the conference is growing popular year after year with the steadily increasing number of participants.
Several eminent speakers also addressed the conference.
MEDIA PARTNER MOTORINDIA