January 15, 2002
'17A'
ANNUAL AUTO AWARDS PRESENTEDShri Manohar Joshi, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has said that auto industry today is one of the key drivers of Indian economy with an investment of more than Rs.50,000 crore. It provides employment to more than 4.5 lakh people directly and about a crore of people indirectly. He was speaking on the occasion of Annual Auto Awards Presentation, here last evening. It contributes about 5% to the industrial output of India. However, this is only very limited exploitation of the potential that this sector has, the Minister said. The Awards have been instituted by CNBC and Autocar.
India now has an installed capacity of more than one million passenger cars per annum. The industry has accomplished a very smooth transition to an environment, which is in step with the WTO requirements. As you know, Quantitative Restrictions in this sector have been completely removed. Earlier, requirements of indigenisation and foreign exchange neutralisation have also been removed. This has made Indian automobile sector highly attractive for global players and I am happy to see the keen interest evinced by them in putting their shops here, he added.
Shri Joshi said automobile sector has faced the challenges of global slow down remarkably well. We are now getting increasing signals of this slow down giving way to a more speedy and sustained growth.