The biggest challenge for the auto ancillary sector is disruption of the supply chain, said Soumitra Bhattacharya, managing director (MD) of Bosch and president of Bosch Group, India, on Friday.
Bosch Ltd on Thursday reported a sharp jump in net profit at Rs 483 crore for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021. The company had posted a net profit of Rs 81.1 crore in the year-ago quarter which was impacted by a one-time loss. The company’s revenue during Q4FY21 rose 44 percent to Rs 3,216 crore from Rs 2,237 crore, YoY.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC-TV18, Bhattacharya said, “Based on what happened on COVID-19 second wave, the biggest challenge that India faces today, not just automotive industry is the whole disruption of the supply chain and the lockdown that is happening at a state-wide level. This is creating a huge challenge. It started in April, in May the impact is huge and we know that dealers and retail sales are at an all-time low and we expect this problem and challenge to continue in June.”
According to him, passenger car demand continues to be uncertain. “We expected passenger cars to touch, in 4-year time, the 4 million mark which was the peak in ’18-19 and we were thinking that passenger cars in FY21-22 would be touching around 3.6-3.7.
However, currently, none of the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) including us sees that happening. So it will definitely be above 3 million but not reaching the 4 million,” said Bhattacharya.
Bosch expects India to continue with 80 percent of internal combustion engine vehicles till 2030.
For the entire management interview, watch the video
(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)