Team Siliconindia

• Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal highlighted government focus on auto sector growth, job creation, and market expansion while inaugurating FADA’s 7th Auto Retail Conclave & 4th Finance and Insurance Summit.
• Goyal proposed a charter mandating automakers to ensure after-sales service and local presence before exiting India, to safeguard customers and uphold industry credibility.
• Minister stressed GST benefits, swadeshi push, and strong FTAs, while urging fair competition, resilient supply chains, and greater investment in India’s automobile manufacturing ecosystem.

The government's attention continues to be on the development of the automobile sector, generating employment opportunities and increasing the size and extent of the market, said Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Piyush Goyal.

The automobile retailing industry is the consumer interface of the industry, ensuring ethical marketing, good quality service, reasonable terms of finance and insurance, and easy registration, he added while inaugurating FADA's 7th Auto Retail Conclave and 4th Finance and Insurance Summit.

The minister added that the agency is a connecting link between customers and automakers, and the confidence of the companies relies on how dealers deal with and treat consumers. The minister added that with cars becoming cheaper, the advantage of the GST cuts will be passed on to consumers starting from September 22.

Goyal also emphasized the utmost importance of after-sales service, spare parts availability, and ongoing support to customers, even when companies choose to withdraw particular models or withdraw from the Indian market altogether.

He noted that there have been instances of companies establishing facilities in India, only to close down and exit after a period of time, leaving customers who had bought their products stranded.

In such cases, the onus usually rests with dealers to resolve customer grievances. To avoid disruption and safeguard customers, he proposed having an umbrella or charter that would make all firms based in India promise to have a local presence and offer after-sales service for a specified duration before they can shut shops", the minister said.

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This, he stressed, would prevent customers from being stranded and the integrity and credibility of the automobile industry from being lost. India is in negotiations on Free Trade Agreements with some developed nations and pulling in huge investments from multinational companies due to the Indian market size, he said.

Supporting indigenous industry and producers, yet ensuring fair competition, as fair competition enhances efficiency, quality, and choice in products for consumers, he added.

He added that manufacturing growth would take place when international companies pilot-test their goods in the Indian market, which would result in greater investment. The vision, he added, is to open up markets, make supply chains stronger, and make them resilient, ensuring domestic manufacturing is kept strongly in place. Goyal also appealed to the industry to popularize swadeshi and make-in-India products and urge the consumer to prefer them.