SIAM to hire consultant for study on export acceleration

SIAM plans to rope in a consultant to conduct a study to find solutions for accelerating exports in the wake of decline in passenger vehicles shipments, a senior official of the auto industry body said today.

The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) is also engaging with the government in order to address issue related to GST refund as various exporting companies have been unable to claim input tax credit even after making payments upfront.

The pending sum has now crossed Rs 2,000 crore mark thus affecting the capability of various companies, especially the smaller ones, according to SIAM.

"We plan to do a study on export opportunities and for that we plan to appoint a consultant. It will take a holistic view on various issues relating to automobile exports," SIAM Deputy Director General Sugato Sen told reporters here.

The move is also aimed to ascertain reasons, specially for the decline in passenger vehicles exports, from the country, he added.

Although two-wheeler exports from the country have been in the positive zone, passenger vehicle (PV) shipments have witnessed a decline over a period of time.

In 2017-18, PV exports declined for the first time in seven years with a dip of 1.51 per cent. PV exports in 2017-18 were at 7,47,287 units as against 7,58,727 units in the previous year, according to the SIAM data.

In April also PV exports declined by 15.89 per cent to 50,921 units as compared to 60,538 units in April 2017.

Sen said SIAM had also got a study done 3-4 years ago to suggest ways to improve automobile exports from the country.

"At that time the consultant had stated that there needs to be a strategy regarding FTAs," he added.

Commenting on the GST input tax credit refund issue, Sen said there is 'huge' outstanding amount that is pending and is also hurting exports.

"We are talking to the government regarding this. Unless this issue is sorted exporters will continue to suffer," he added.

In April, various prominent exporters including Nissan, Ford and Renault saw decline in exports.

Nissan's shipments fell by 79.92 per cent during the month to 1,265 units, while Ford saw exports drop by 55.21 per cent to 7,853 units. The American automaker had said earlier that its exports were down as it focussed on the launch of new model--Freestyle in the country.

Renault saw exports dipping by 25.14 per cent to 798 units in April.

In 2016-17 fiscal, in value terms India's PV exports stood at USD 6.5 billion, representing 2.3 per cent of the country's overall exports across industrial segments. In the April-February period of 2017-18, the PV exports in value terms stood at USD 6.3 billion, 2.32 per cent of India's overall exports.

Mexico, South Africa, the US, Algeria and Italy are India's top automobile export markets in value terms currently.