The Indian automotive industry has overtaken Germany to become the fourth largest global automotive market and these new trends are shaping the future in the Financial Year (FY) 2018, according to a paper released by Ernst & Young in collaboration with the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).
The industry is expected to gain momentum in FY 2019, with some moderation in commercial vehicles (CV) growth. “Factors like strengthening of rural economy, coupled with stronger adoption of vehicle financing and new product launches are expected to boost growth,” said the paper which was released at the ‘ICC Manufacturing Summit 2018, focusing on Readiness for Industry 4.0’ in Chennai.
Passenger Vehicle sales witnessed year on year growth of 7.9% driven by strong rural demand and higher disposable incomes. CV market witnessed record sales in FY 2018 driven by replacement demand and stricter enforcement of ban on overloading and implementation of Goods and Services Tax.
However, the study also highlighted India’s lack of preparedness of utilities for the rapid uptake of electric vehicles (Evs). It said that in India, electric infrastructure can be a major bottleneck for EV growth.
S. Kannan, Summit Chair, ICC Manufacturing Summit 2018, said, the growing trends have pushed traditional companies to transform rapidly and embrace new technology driven business models. “Robotics and automation are helping companies in this transformation,” he said.
There were discussions on how technology can address challenges faced by the industry. The way forward is to integrate emerging technologies to create factories of the future which would be intelligent and efficient. Convergence of digital technologies, analytics and collaboration has enabled the procurement and logistics functions to be significant game changers in converting data into actionable insights across different industries.