Social media platform Twitter was flooded with hashtag #BoycottMillenials on Wednesday after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman's statement on the ongoing auto slowdown. FM Sitharaman, in a press conference on Tuesday, said the auto slump was due to many factors like the change in the mindset of millennials, who now prefer taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber instead of paying monthly instalments.
"Studies had revealed that there was a change in the the mindset of the millenials not to commit any EMIs (equated monthly installments) towards buying an automobile and instead taking OLA, UBER or the Metro (train) services," said Sitharaman. Her statement didn't go well with the Twitterati, especially millennials, who took to social media to express their amusement to the FM's "bizarre" statement:
Sitharaman later said the government was looking for measures to help the struggling automotive industry.
On August 23, to address the auto sector crisis, Sitharaman had announced lifting the ban on purchase of vehicles by the government departments and allowed an additional 15 per cent depreciation benefit on vehicles to be acquired till March 2020.
The government clarified that BS-IV vehicles purchased up to March 2020 would remain operational for the entire period of registration, while also considering various measures, including scrappage policy, to boost the demand.
The auto industry in India is going through a major economic slowdown for several months. Carmakers have laid off thousands of employees, and some have temporarily halted their production to keep a cost in check.