Indian Govt. claims India to be the 7th largest vehicle producing country globally

The Indian government has recently claimed that six years ahead of the set target, India has become the seventh largest vehicle producing nation in the world. Secretary of Ministry of Heavy Industry B S Meena commented that when they were making the Auto Mission Plan (AMP) in 2006, they had projected India to become the seventh largest vehicle producing country in the world by 2016. They have already achieved this milestone good six years ahead of the set target. He further added that the country will be among the top five vehicle producers by the year 2020. At present, China is the largest vehicle producer of the world. It is then followed by the US. The Auto Mission Plan (AMP) had targeted at raising the turnover of automotive sector to USD 145 billion in 2016. It had also aimed for providing employment to 25 million people within 10 years. In 2005-06, the turnover was USD 34 billion and directly or indirectly, it was employing 13.1 million people. 

As per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the country vehicle production increased to 1,40,49,830 units in 2009-10, a jump of over 25 per cent from 11,172,275 units in the previous fiscal. The total vehicle production was 97,43,503 units in 2005-06. Meena also stated that during the period of April-August 2009-10, the cumulative production of vehicles grew at 32.4 per cent over an year ago period. He said that the passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles and two-wheeler segments have all recorded impressive growth rates of 32 per cent, 49 per cent and 31 per cent, respectively, during this period.

The Secretary further commented that Indian passenger vehicle market is estimated to grow to 9 million units by 2020. On the other hand, the two-wheeler market is expected to reach 30 million units. The realisation of these volumes would position India as one of the top five vehicle producing countries in the world by 2020 with the domestic consumption growing by 4-folds to USD 120 billion, said Meena. However, the Secretary also said that that the most significant challenge for the sector is to ensure that this growth is accompanied by strategies that are aimed at mitigating the adverse impact of vehicles on the environment.

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