Car Makers To Take 5 Yrs To Meet Export Obligations

Car manufacturers will take at least five years to fulfil their pending export obligations, the new president of Automotive Component Manufacturers Association, L Ganesh said yesterday. . Ganesh's statement however contradicts the claim made by most multinational car manufacturers that they have exceeded their export liabilities. The issue of export obligation of automobile manufacturers ha s become contentious of late. While car manufacturers claim they would not have any fresh export obligations after April 1, 2001, when the quantitative restrictions on export would be lifted, the Director General of Foreign Trade N L Lakhanpal, said recently that they would have to fulfil their pending export obligations even after April 1, 2001. n the component industry scenario, Ganesh was hopeful that the government would not let the compnent industry die in the post-QR scenario. He was speaking at a press meet organised after Automotive Component Manufacturers Association's annual meet On exports, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association has set a stiff export target of $1 billion wort of components by 2005. "The mandatory requirement to export under the MoU policy has benefitted the industry and many automobile manufacturers are today exporting components and kits in order to fulfil their export obligations," Ganesh said.