He called upon the industry to redouble their efforts to become globally competitive. There is an urgent need to ensure higher commitment on research and development by industry, which is at present less than 0.2% of the sales turnover as against 3-4% in developed countries. The focus of R&D should be specifically enhanced in critical areas like alternative fuels etc. We must compete and have a presence in the international market which is possible only through better technology and quality. We must realise that for long term well being of the industry, it is critically necessary to increase our volumes through exports. He urged the industry to identify a technology Wave for global leadership. Industry and the Government must work together to identify the product technologies of the future and then identify one of the technology waves for global leadership. He assured full support from the Government in this endeavour.

    The Government is trying its best to announce the Auto Policy at the earliest, he added. Government is working on policy formulation relating to auto fuels, vehicle retirement programmes and on putting in place institutional mechanism for better exports of automobile products from the country and on a host of other issues which concern the industry as a whole. While Government has successively liberalised policy dispensation to spur growth of this sector, the industry has also strived hard to meet the emerging challenges and consumer expectations.

    S/Shri J.Vasudevan, CMD, ITPO, Subodh Bhargava, Chairman, Trade Fairs CII, R.Seshasayee, President, SIAM, K.Kejriwal, President, ACMA also addressed the gathering.