India Moves On Its Wheels Of Motion

The Wheels of Motion The Automobile Industry in India has come of age and it has taken almost six decades to evolve into an indigenous industry. The automobile industry in our country is one of the world’s seventh largest manufacturers of cars and commercial vehicles. It was in the late eighteenth century that the first car rolled its wheels in the country and cars were mostly imported from abroad till the early 1940’s. The early forties witnessed the embryonic birth of the automobile industry, when the innovative Mahindra brothers rolled out the first utility vehicle by assembling the CJ3A Willys jeep under license from Willys, USA. Mahindra & Mahindra later on diversified into manufacturing of light commercial vehicles and agricultural vehicles. The Willys Jeep became the flagship of the Mahindra & Mahindra. The Expansive Growth There was a sluggish growth of the automobile industry between the ’50s & 70s due to the nationalization of the industry as well as the non-issuance of licenses for the manufacture of auto component manufacturers. However, the pace of the growth picked up towards the late ’70s that was endeavored by the manufacture of tractors, commercial vehicles and two wheelers. The advent of the affordable personal car was ushered in India with the Japanese motor company, Suzuki establishing their manufacturing plant in India at Gurgaon in Haryana. The rolling of the Suzuki cars on Indian roads gave rise to the ancillary industry where Auto Parts Manufacturers who produced auto parts and supplied them to the original manufacturers as OEM equipment at far cheaper rates as compared to imported auto parts. Export Market With rise in production of automobiles Automobile Exporters India made a niche in the international market by exporting their products to other countries across the world earning valuable foreign exchange for the country. As one thing leads to another, with the boom in exports of automobiles, there grew a plethora of auto component exporters as well as auto parts exporters. This resulted in a phenomenal growth of the ancillary industry along with rich earnings of foreign exchange. The Present Scenario The automobile industry over the last few decades has grown by leaps and bounds and will lead to collaborations with foreign car manufacturers setting up manufacturing facilities in the country. While there are already a large number of such collaborations, the fascination for imported cars amongst the Indian populace has not diminished, rather it will continue to grow further.