Nitin Gadkari Wants Auto Sector Growth To Slow Down

In a truly bizarre turn of events, the road transport minister Nitin Gadkari has announced his intentions of slowing down the pace of car sales in India. This decision will harshly affect the sales of diesel cars in India, which according to the minister cause  “choking on roads and increased pollution”.  

The minister had some interesting comments to add at an event organized by lobby group SIAM, to, ironically, work out sustainable growth programs for the automobile industry.

“You may not like it, but I wish it from my heart that your growth should be less. If this growth continues, I will need to add one more lane to national highways, which will cost a whopping Rs 80,000 crore.”

“I am going to do it, whether you like it or not. I will bulldoze. Petrol diesel banaane walon kaa band-baajaa bajaanaa hai," he added, unsurprisingly.

Gadkari was speaking in line with the government plan to go full electric by 2030. Oddly enough, there have been no notable incentives for the manufacturers to make electric cars, or any necessary infrastructure to support the said cars.

Gadkari also added “Even my chef comes in a car. There are too many cars, which is also leading to parking problems. I think the car industry should also go in for finding parking solutions and look at an integrated approach.”  

"If only one person needs to travel, why should he use a car?" Gadkari added at the event, possibly oblivious to the cavalcade ministers usually travel with.

The minister plans on placing these harsh sanctions will be placed to cut down on the import bill and pollution. "I want the import bill and pollution to be reduced. These are big problems," Gadkari said, adding that "we need to move towards alternative fuels" such as ethanol. "The government has decided to start 15 industries for second-generation ethanol. Ethanol can easily be produced from agro-based cotton straw, wheat straw, rice straw, bagass and bamboo. Alternative fuel is import substitute, cost effective and pollution free," Gadkari added.

The minister added that the industry should gravitate their focus to electric vehicles as the added cost of batteries has also been coming down. "A Cabinet note is being prepared that will facilitate the use of electric vehicles," said the minister.  The lobby group SIAM was also accused of slowing down the transition towards cleaner fuel.

Gadkari said "I told my officials that you are influenced by SIAM. I asked them to get consultants and introduce European and US standards, right from fuel to auto engineers."

The minister also added that the heavily taxed industry should dedicate a part of their profits towards researching “Cost effective import substitutes and pollution free technologies.”  

ZigSays: It’s safe to assume we speak for a majority of people, including Gadkari’s chef, that this is a very counterproductive decision. The auto industry already attracts heavy taxes on cars - 29 per cent on smaller cars, 43 per cent on cars above and below 1500cc and a whopping 43 per cent on SUVs and MUVs.  The government’s  plan on full electrification by 2030 also seems unlikely due to lack of infrastructure. However, hybrids can bridge the gap between litre engines and electric motors, but unfortunately, they too are heftily taxed (43 per cent). Even with the mountain of tax revenue and non-existent public transport, the government’s refusal to build more infrastructure is inexcusable. All opinions expressed in this piece are personal.  

[Source - Times of India]

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