New Delhi: Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, said on Friday that the Indian auto industry is going through the toughest period in history and needs government support in the form of GST reduction and incentive-based scrap policy. Ayukawa, who is also the chairman of the auto industry body Siam, said the sector has gone back several years due to the coronavirus epidemic and continued sluggishness since last financial year. He said that in the face of the global health crisis, the Indian auto industry played a role in manufacturing ventilators, personal protective equipment (PPE) and also imported test kits from abroad to fight the virus.
“We can say that we have made a comeback in August compared to last year,” Ayukawa said at the 60th annual conference of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). However, it would not be correct to compare with last year, as the industry had recorded negative growth of 15-25 percent during that time. This negative growth has lagged the industry for many years. ” This conference was held online.
Reiterating the auto industry’s earlier demand for reduction in Goods and Services Tax (GST), he said Ayukawa said, “We are facing the toughest time in history.” The industry needs your (government) help. ” He said, “We are eagerly waiting for GST cuts and incentive scheme.” We believe that the tax on growing business will be higher than the government’s scrap scheme and the reduction in GST. ” On this occasion, he thanked Heavy Industries Minister Prakash Javadekar, who assured the conference that he would raise the issue of GST deduction to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
