Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Nitin Gadkari, acknowledged Thursday the automobile industry is currently going through a slowdown. He was speaking at the SIAM Conclave and assured GST could be reduced on petrol and diesel vehicles.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) earlier asked the government to take quick steps in addressing to the drop in the sales of vehicles in India.
In August a 30 percent drop in passenger vehicle sales was recorded. SIAM said a significant decline in the sales of commercial vehicles and two-wheelers have been seen too.
SIAM indicated the market has not yet responded even after various measures initiated last month by the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
Currently the GST rate in the auto segment is 28 percent. It is expected to be reduced to 18 percent to bring down the cost of vehicles significantly.
SIAM President Rajan Wadhera said, “The festival season is around the corner, it is imperative that these decisions are taken quickly and announced without delay so that the industry could hope for a better festival season that could harbinger a recovery in the industry.”
Meanwhile, major auto companies including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Tata Motors and Honda have reported sales de-growth by double-digit in August.
Maruti reported a drop of 33 percent while Tata Motors lost sales by 58 percent. The sales of Honda Cars declined by 51 percent while that of Toyota Kirloskar Motor slipped by 21 percent.
