India needs to curb production of heavy vehicles, which are not only costly but also come with social costs.
The then Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh (in the UPA government) once rightly called SUVs “socially useless vehicles” and said he was misusing diesel subsidies for the wealthy elite who can afford these luxury cars. Ta. Earlier, then Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had also advocated for more parking spaces and less use of large vehicles, which dominate road traffic. India needs an entirely new auto policy that effectively blocks the production of large, expensive cars. Rather, the time has come when improved versions of auto-rickshaws with air-conditioning will be introduced in the market and at least middle-class people will want to switch to auto-rickshaws, which take up less road space and are air-conditioned. ing. Autorickshaws are now powered by electric charging or CNG engines, which makes them not only environment-friendly but also provides parking space. It may be recalled that the Mexican ambassador to India in Delhi once preferred private luxury autorickshaws over luxury cars.
I cannot understand why and how the authorities and certain individuals prefer to promote car manufacturing in India as if cars are a necessity and not a luxury. There are many other areas of common use where production should be expanded, such as building subway networks in more cities. Automakers will then be able to switch to producing subway cars and will need to work hard to win export orders as well. Utilizing our production capacity, we can also manufacture three-wheeled auto-rickshaws with air conditioning.
All such measures are likely to be taken to stop the manufacture of expensive cars with an ex-showroom price of more than Rs 1 million (including all taxes) in the country. An expensive car may have tax, road tax, insurance and all other levies plus GST that can be double that of a car with an ex-showroom price of less than Rs 1 million. Classification of cars should be based on showroom price, not length or engine capacity.
Loans for cars with an ex-showroom price of more than Rs 1 million should be completely banned. Expensive cars are nothing but status symbols, and status-conscious people must be paying a lot of money to show their status in society. Additionally, to prevent the import of foreign-made cars, import duties on imported cars would need to be significantly higher. It has been observed that a tax dispute is brewing over the payment of import duty on imported cars gifted to very wealthy Indian celebrities. Full import duty should be levied on imported cars received by Indians as gifts from foreigners.
All government vehicle purchases (Central Government, States and their undertakings) may be compulsorily purchased from economy class vehicles. However, there may be an exception for vehicles used by the President, Vice President, Prime Minister and foreign dignitaries visiting India. The Telangana government in 2021 was criticized for purchasing 32 new luxury cars at a price of 3 million rupees each for the use of additional collectors, and rightly so. did.
During the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the then Maharashtra state government approved the purchase of six luxury cars at a cost of 22.83 billion rupees each, and the total expenditure to the education ministry amounted to 1.37 billion rupees. This is also something the government should have bought since it is facing a financial crisis. Please focus more on fighting Corona. It is time to propose air-conditioned auto-rickshaws as an alternative to automobiles for use by government agencies and their businesses. Vehicles must not be sold under GST subsidy through the canteen department for military personnel.
Diesel engines must not be allowed in any category of motor vehicle. Procurement prices for gasoline and diesel are approximately the same, but diesel is intentionally priced lower because it is used for public transport and goods transportation. Allowing low-cost diesel to be used in cars is an abuse. The Supreme Court-appointed Environmental Pollution Prevention and Control Committee headed by Bhullal rightly proposed a complete ban on non-CNG vehicles in Delhi. However, the odd-even double-row system proposed by the committee could cause major problems for middle-class people.
Wealthy people who can afford to do so will buy more cars with separate registrations for odd and even numbers to counter this trend. Due to the lack of public transport infrastructure in Delhi, it is best to remove all kinds of restrictions on the number of autorickshaws in Delhi keeping in mind the interests of the middle class people. This will introduce an adequate number of autorickshaws on the roads and override the normal behavior of auto drivers of not following the meter reading or refusing to travel to the required destination.
Already, American giant Ford has been forced to stop manufacturing cars due to mounting losses. The idea would be to stop production in India to prevent other foreign automakers from entering the country and save Indian money going abroad. Instead, all measures should be taken to promote exports of cars manufactured by Indian companies to other countries.
The automobile scrappage policy in cities such as Delhi, in which diesel cars that are 10 years old and gasoline cars that are 15 years old are forcibly scrapped in the name of reducing air pollution, is indirectly promoting India’s automobile industry. Pollution can be controlled by requiring the installation of pollution testing machines at every registered factory for all types of vehicles, and by requiring all vehicles leaving the factory to be tested with a pollution certificate; And you should.
Rather, such pollution testing services and certificates are not very expensive and should be provided free of charge by auto repair shops. Currently, if a vehicle fails a contamination test at a contamination testing center, the vehicle must first be placed in some vehicle, then driven back to the contamination testing center, and the cycle repeats until the vehicle passes the contamination test. It doesn’t have to be. check test.
It should be mandatory for each vehicle to be computerized and tested for compliance by an automaker’s authorized repair shop every 10 years. Cars that do not pass the tests and are not compatible with the required modifications may be ordered scrapped. The current car scrapping policy, which forces diesel cars to be scrapped after 10 years and gasoline cars after 15 years, is extremely harmful, especially to elderly people who don’t use their cars much. Different colored number plates can be introduced for cars that are deemed suitable for use after the first 10 years.
Too many variations of any car model confuses customers. Apart from his third model with automatic gear, he may only have two variations. One is the basic His Lx for economy customers and the other is His Vx which the company has equipped with all additional accessories and luxuries that are affordable to the customers. It makes no sense that the same model has too many confusing variations: Lx, Lxi, Vx, Vxi. India is the largest consumer market among free economies and certainly has the power to dictate consumer-friendly terms for world market leaders to cooperate in manufacturing cars in India.
The Union government should induce standardization of common accessories such as tires and batteries so that the same parts can be used in different models of cars manufactured by different car manufacturers. Producing bumpers in large quantities with limited sizes and specifications significantly reduces consumables costs. This can be achieved by consolidating several similar sizes and specifications. Although such guidelines are included in federal motor vehicle policy, they are never followed in practice.
Abnormally high prices for car spares generate huge profits for monopolistic car manufacturers. This study can prove that the price of a new car assembled from new spare parts purchased at maximum retail price is much higher than the price of a new car purchased at showroom price from a car dealer. The National Commission for Prevention of Unjust Enrichment, under the central government’s Ministry of Revenue, should ensure that automakers can reduce the price of spare parts for cars only with a reasonable margin.
(The author is a Guinness World Record holder and an RTI consultant, and the views are personal)
1 Comment
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