The Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has once again made a bold claim. This time around, Gadkari has announced that he is confident that in the next five years, the Indian automobile industry will become the largest in the world. He emphasized that the Indian automobile industry will leave behind the current leaders, the USA and China. The MoRTH minister also added that logistics costs will be reduced significantly in the coming years.
Indian Automotive Industry Will Become Number 1
While attending the Amazon Smbhav Summit, Nitin Gadkari stated that India, in the last few years, has seen exponential growth within the automobile industry. He highlighted that it has increased from Rs 7 trillion to Rs 22 trillion since he took charge of the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.
Adding to his statement, Gadkari stated that presently, the automobile industry of the USA is valued at Rs 78 trillion, and China’s automotive industry is valued at Rs 47 trillion. However, in the next five years, the growth of the Indian automotive industry will dethrone both of these leaders to become the number one in the world.
Logistics Cost to Reduce
Apart from the above-mentioned, the MoRTH minister, Gadkari, stated that his ministry is also aiming to reduce logistics costs. He stated, “The logistic cost in India is 16 percent, and in China, it is 8 percent. In the USA and European countries, it is 12 percent. The government has decided to reduce the logistic costs… In my ministry, we have the target that within two years, we will take this logistic cost to 9 percent.”
Travel Time Reduction
In addition to reducing logistical costs, Gadkari also emphasized that the time needed to travel between major cities will reduce drastically. He stated that the time to reach Dehradun from Delhi will reduce from 9 hours to just 2 hours by January 2025.
He also added that Delhi to Mumbai and Chennai to Bangalore travel times will reduce significantly. The minister stated that when travel times reduce, it helps in boosting trade and tourism. Also, regional integration increases as well, stated Gadkari.
Biofuels Promotion
Over the years, Gadkari has been very vocal about the dependence of people on petrol and diesel. He has stated that he aims to increase the usage of biofuels like hydrogen and bio-ethanol. He has also highlighted on numerous occasions that these alternative fuels pollute a lot less.
Apart from this, Gadkari also stated that more organic waste should be recycled so that more biofuels can be produced. He stated, “Our idea is to make hydrogen from organic waste. By segregating the waste, we can get petrol, plastic, metals, and glass. The recycling of all these materials is possible. And another technology is by which we can use this waste to get green hydrogen.”
Can the Indian Automobile Industry Become Number One?
The statement from Nitin Gadkari about becoming the number one automobile industry in the world may seem a little stretched. However, it has to be noted that it is not impossible. If the government is serious about achieving this target, it will have to create policies that promote automakers to develop and sell new cars in the country.
The Indian government will also have to increase the speed at which infrastructure is growing. Additionally, it has to ensure that exports are increasing and dependence on fuel coming from international markets reduces. Even if the government starts making these changes, it will still take a lot of time to achieve this ambitious goal.
