New Delhi, Nov 23 (IANS): Road Transport and Highways minister Nitin Gadkari said on Monday that the centre is working to make India an automobile manufacturing hub in the coming 5 years.
"Government is also working towards making India a global automobile manufacturing hub in the next five years. This is my dream. This will also contribute in fulfilling the Prime Minister's vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat," Gadkari said.
This, he felt, is possible as India's auto industry has made significant strides in terms of development of different designs and models, robust R&D, huge market, stable government frame-work and bright & young engineering minds. He added, India already is the largest manufacturer of two-wheelers in the world.
Considering the huge potential, the Government has earmarked over Rs 51,000 crore for this sector under Production Linked Incentive(PLI), the highest amongst the 10 champion sectors. Gadkari also said that there is a huge requirement of about 25 million skilled jobs in the automobile sector in near future. This is significant as this industry is going to create maximum jobs and growth, he added.
He stressed that the Government aims at creating core global competencies in India by facilitating seamless integration of the automotive industry with the world. The Government, he added, is trying to create an ecosystem to accelerate the uptake of electric vehicles in the country.
He elaborated a number of steps that the Centre has taken to promote electric vehicles which include reduction in GST to 5%, allowing delinking of battery cost of 2-3 wheelers from vehicle cost as it accounts for nearly 30% of the cost among others.
The battery charging ecosystem is very important as such, he said. The Government is planning to set up at least one electric vehicle charging kiosk at around 69,000 petrol pumps across the country to induce people to go for electric mobility.
He further called upon the automobile industry to push for manufacturing flex engines which have versatility to use petrol or ethonal or CNG as fuels. He stressed that the Indian auto industry needs to follow the example of Brazil and US Auto sectors in this regard.