The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) is a not-for-profit apex national body representing all major vehicle and vehicular engine manufacturers in India. It also works towards facilitating enhancement of the competitiveness of the Indian Automobile Industry, reducing cost of vehicles, increasing productivity, and achieving global standards of quality.
The Executive Committee of SIAM has now elected Mr. Kenichi Ayukawa as its new President. Interestingly, Mr. Ayukawa is not only the MD & CEO, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd since 2013, but he was also the Vice President of SIAM until now, succeeding Mr. Rajan Wadhera, Senior Advisor, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
The election for all new office bearers was conducted during the Executive Committee Meeting, which was held after SIAM’s Annual General Meeting yesterday.
The members of SIAM also elected Mr. Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO, Ashok Leyland Ltd, as the Vice President of SIAM. While, Mr. Vinod Aggarwal, MD & CEO, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles Ltd (VECV) will continue as the Treasurer of SIAM.
The appointment of Mr Ayukawa comes when the auto industry has been facing its worst crisis ever due to the prevailing Covid-19 induced economic crisis. Auto sales in India declined in the range of 15-25%, cutting across sectors in FY 20 and are expected to plunge around 25-45% in the current fiscal, according to a forecast by SIAM.
Even after the entire sector witnessed a decent recovery in retail sales, this festive season. Still, there are concern, that this temporary rise in sales might account to just two factors; the fear of this pandemic, and the fact that automakers had to announce massive discounts and slash in price to attract buyers, which cannot be done every time.
“We understand, that if the Government wants to do good for the country, it needs funds. Government revenues come from the taxes on the GDP that we generate. So, it is important for us to maximize production and sales volume. This will help to protect lively-hoods and also keep Government revenues healthy to fund welfare initiatives,” said Ayukawa in his speech at the 60th annual general meeting of SIAM. “We will eagerly wait for the GST reduction and Scrappage scheme. We believe that the taxes on the increased turnover will be more than the Government’s expenditure on this scrappage scheme on GST rate reduction,” he added.