Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari urges auto companies to move towards a greener future.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) recently held their 57th annual convention in the national capital. The convention saw Union Minister of Road Transportation and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, make some bold and positive statements. This year the convention was the stage for promoting green technology as Gadkari urged the auto companies to move towards sustainable and environment friendly transportation. He asked the companies to introduce more electric vehicles as they are cleaner and don’t harm the environment. He also asked the auto sector to work towards bringing better reforms as far as rural transportation is concerned.
The minister also asked the auto companies to make a move to alternative and green fuels in order to sustain themselves in the Indian auto environment. Many industry leaders were present at the event and had the following to say.
Venu Srinivasan, Chairman, TVS Motor Company, said, “The most important disruption is the electrification. It is something certainly going to happen by 2030 or 2040, I cannot say. But at least 30 per cent of the vehicle will be electric.” He further added, “We in the automotive industry must have an approach to move on from Make in India to Made in India. We have created excellent clusters in Chennai, Bengaluru and now Uttarakhand has become a very vibrant cluster. In next ten years, there will be huge growth in passenger vehicle, two wheelers and export volumes will also go up.”
Abhay Firodia, chairman, Force Motors Limited, said, “It is good that Indian automobile industry is taking up this challenge despite shocks in the past year. We had disruptions due to demonetisation last year. We have the GST now. We had transition to BS IV emission norms in an unplanned manner owing to which we suffered losses. We need a clear, firm policy guidelines concerning fuel, new technologies and clean transport. This would ensure that the industry doesn’t suffer jerks and losses.”
Kenichi Ayukawa, Treasurer, SIAM and Managing Director & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, called India as a unique country where the auto industry offers a large scale employment. He however pointed out that there are some concerns like issues related to CO2 emissions, growing traffic and accidents.
The convention mainly focused on the transition to greener technologies, however, Gadkari did not mention anything related to the cleaner production of electricity in the country, which would further reduce emission and air pollution. We hope that with electrification of four and two-wheelers, we will also get electricity that is produced in a much cleaner way.
