FICCI seeks separate EPC for automotive sector

The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry today urged the formation of a separate export promotion council for the country's automotive sector, with a mission to achieve a five per cent share in the global automotive trade in the next ten years.

The current share of India in the global automotive trade is only about 0.5 per cent. Though it has grown marginally from 0.2 per cent in 2000, it remains much lower than that of other developing countries, FICCI pointed out in a statement on Monday.

The nation-wide industry association pointed out that India's automotive exports stood at $5.8 billion in 2007, compared to $54.9 billion for China, $43.9 billion for Mexico, $19.5 billion for Brazil, $18.2 billion for Turkey, and $14.6 billion for Thailand in the same year.

"The primary objective of the council would be to help the Indian auto sector to achieve five per cent share in global trade in the next 10 years by identifying the true potential for exports of various categories of automotive products from India," the statement said.

The association said that the Indian automotive industry needs to diversify its destinations of exports, for which such a council would be instrumental. Currently, India does not export any significant volume of automotive items to some of the major importing countries like Australia, Canada, Russia and Saudi Arabia, FICCI noted.