Goyal urges auto component makers to explore investment from EFTA countries

He asked to target $100 billion worth of automobile components' exports by 2030

Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday asked automobile-component manufacturers to bring in investment from countries of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) to reach the export target worth $100 billion by 2030.

While addressing the 64th annual session of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (Acma), he said: “If you were to look at our agreements with different countries -- like the EFTA agreement with Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein, and Iceland -- now they have committed to put in $100 billion in India. They don’t have much manufacturing in those four countries but they do have some technologies. They would be interested in investing for profits in (Indian) market, even if they don’t have a particular technology.”

On September 4, the Swiss government submitted a dispatch to its Parliament as a first step towards ratifying the EFTA agreement.

Goyal said the automobile industry needed to market the after-sales sector by impressing upon customers the importance of using original equipment manufacturer (OEM) products via social media campaigns or through other means.

“We need to educate them that the value (one) pays for an OEM product would always be far less in terms of the value and the years of service that (one) is getting. When you collectively look at the new automobile market and the after-sales (sector), I think the future for your sector is absolutely bright and nobody in the world can compete with Indian component manufacturers,” he added.

The minister urged industry leaders to prepare a road map to become the largest auto market in the world, laying emphasis on combining the industry’s organic growth with an international outreach to secure investment and focus on research and development (R&D).

Currently, India is the third-largest auto market in the world.

“The government is soon going to come up with guidelines for the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), where Rs 1 trillion has been allocated for supporting public-private academia partnerships and I hope all of you will take the benefit of that,” Goyal said.

Further, he invited auto-component industry leaders to examine the development potential of the government’s upcoming 20 industrial smart cities.

Goyal asked them to capture global opportunities in new-age technologies such as those of electric vehicles (EVs).

“Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 will reflect in a much bigger way about EVs and their associated ecosystem. They are getting bicycles on board also. That sector needs to grow in India. We used to have an edge once upon a time. We lost a lot of that edge in the last three-four decades,” he said.

The minister talked of the potential for the auto sector to achieve economies of scale by catering for the domestic market.