GST tweak can make India export hub: Volkswagen India MD Gurpratap Boparai

Boparai said a global manufacturer in India would have to invest mostly in the segment below 4 metres because it constituted 70 per cent of sales here

German carmaker Volkswagen AG has made a pitch for removing differential taxation biased in favour of cars less than 4 metres long, which, it says, has been an obstacle to India becoming a global hub for export.

Currently, goods and services tax (including cess) on cars less 4 metres long is 29 per cent for petrol-driven ones (31 per cent for diesel) but goes up to 45-50 per cent for those over 4 metres.

Gurpratap Boparai, managing director, Volkswagen India, said: “Passenger cars below 4 metres represent roughly 7 per cent of the global market and that is also declining.