Industry growth does not look rosy compared to the last 5 years: Maruti Suzuki

“We will see a good growth in Q4 or next year because you have the low base kicking in.”

He said that the government should look at reducing acquisition costs and deferring corporate average fuel efficiency (CAFÉ) and phase II of BS-VI norms to 2024.

“I think anything which reduces the cost of acquisition in a growing economy where we have almost 50 percent of buyers as first time buyers, looking at the demographics of India, I think cost of acquisition is very important. Therefore while the industry has been asking for GST reduction, the government knows best. If there is no such possibility, then one possibility is the incentive linked scrappage scheme which the industry has been speaking of will help on the emission front as also on the demand for industry. The newer vehicles are much more fuel efficient and therefore there will be saving in fuel as well.”

The transition to BS-VI phase II might be too much for the industry, he said.

“We have just come off a huge investment in the transition from BS-IV to BS-VI and I think that is also partly passed on to the consumers by way of increase in prices. So another round of changes on CAFÉ as well BS-VI phase II might be too much for the industry. The cost will have to be passed on to the consumer which might impact the industry. So a deferment up to 2024 would be good because that would mean that the huge investments that the industry has made, we can adjust to this new cost and the new prices levels which we are seeing.”