Hyundai India MD seeks long-term policy, shift to advanced tech exports

Hyundai Motor India MD and CEO Tarun Garg on Wednesday called for a consistent long-term policy framework to support scale and accelerate technology and component development, while urging the country's auto industry to move beyond exporting conventional components to advanced technologies, engineering capabilities and innovation.

Addressing the 66th Annual Session of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), Garg said India needs to accelerate efforts to build domestic capabilities in critical technologies such as semiconductor chips, EV battery cells and power electronics.

"The government on its part needs to provide consistent long-term policy that supports scale and accelerates the development of technologies and components," Garg said.

 

He observed that the time has come for India to progress from exporting conventional components to exporting advanced technologies, engineering capability and innovation.

Garg said India exported about USD 24 billion worth of auto components in 2025-26, while imports stood at around USD 25.4 billion, resulting in a trade deficit of USD 1.4 billion.

"The concern goes beyond the deficit. Our exports remain concentrated in relatively mature technologies, while our imports are led by advanced, higher-value technologies which may well define the future," the Hyundai India MD said.

Garg said while India had successfully built scale in the automotive sector, the country now needs to accelerate and leapfrog towards greater self-reliance by developing domestic capabilities to design, develop and manufacture future technologies.

He also called on automakers to build more long-term technology partnerships with suppliers, while urging component manufacturers to step up investments in research and development, design and intellectual property and build export competitiveness.

Garg outlined four pillars for building what he termed India's distinctive capability of "value excellence" -- mastering technology, engineering cost, compounding learning and building export competitiveness.

"Value excellence means making advanced technology affordable to the world, while maintaining global standards of quality, performance and safety," he said.

He said India has scale, engineering talent and cost competitiveness, besides customers who demand maximum value from every product, and argued that combining these strengths with artificial intelligence and original thinking could drive meaningful disruption across the automotive industry.

On technology, Garg said domestic capabilities need to be developed in semiconductors, rare-earth magnets, power electronics, battery cells and other critical technologies.

"We need to invest even more in R&D and innovation, because technology ownership is essential for strategic independence," he said.

On cost competitiveness, he said it must begin at the design stage, with stronger R&D helping improve product architecture, materials and manufacturing processes without compromising quality, safety and performance.

He also highlighted the need to extend AI, digitalisation and shared learning across the automotive ecosystem, including Tier-2 and Tier-3 suppliers.

Drawing a parallel with UPI, he said the automotive industry can follow a similar path by mastering critical technologies, engineering them for affordability, continuously improving them and taking Indian innovation to global markets.

He called for the country to advance "from Make in India to Design in India, Engineer in India and Create in India".

He urged industry stakeholders to commit to five actions -- mastering one critical technology, localising one imported component, creating one Indian patent, entering one global market and integrating AI into each function.