Sitharaman's action plan for auto-sector: These measures announced to boost vehicle sales

New Delhi, Aug 23: With the recent data showing dip in vehicle sales, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday announced a slew of measures to arrest the slowdown in automotive sector.

In a bid to boost demand in the auto sector, the Finance Minister said that the government will put off a proposal to increase registration fees of vehicles.

The Finance Minister said that the focus would be to give impetus to the automotive ancillary units. She said that there is no need to fear that since the government is pushing for Electrical Vehicles, there would be curbs on conventional vehicles.

To dismiss speculations concerning BS-IV vehicles, Sitharaman said that the Bharat Stage IV vehicles purchased before March 2020 will remain operational for the full period of their registration.

"BS-4 vehicles purchased up to March 31, 2020, will all remain operational for their entire period of registration," she said allaying the fears.

Further to boost demand, Nirmala Sitharaman said government departments will be actively pushed to replace old vehicles and provide a source of demand for the auto sector.

Earlier, there were certain restrictions on government departments to buy new vehicles even if it was to replace old ones.

As per data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), vehicle sales across categories, including passenger vehicles (PVs) and two-wheelers, saw a major dip. Sales in terms of numbers stood at 18,25,148 units last month as against 22,45,223 units in July 2018. The previous biggest decline across overall domestic automobile sales was recorded in December 2000 when it fell 21.81%.

Finance Minister major announcements for auto sectors in nutshell:

• Government would focus on setting up infrastructure for development of automotive ancillary segment. Export of batteries to be encouraged.
• BS IV vehicles purchased upto 2020 March will remain operational for entire period of registration.
• Revision of one-time registration fee has been deferred till June 2020.
• Additional 15% depreciation on all vehicles to increase it to 30% acquired during the period from now till March 31, 2020.
• Government shall lift the ban on buying new vehicles. New vehicles to be bought by all govt departments
• The government would put off a proposal to increase registration fees of vehicles.

How did the auto-industry react?