On September 9, American automobile major Ford announced that it was shutting down manufacturing operations in India, leading to the loss of around 4,000 jobs. Ford is only the latest in a series of automobile companies who came to India with great expectations, but decided to leave in a few years. This runs counter to our government’s Make-in-India initiative, which aims to turn India into a preferred global destination for manufacturing.
What exactly is ailing India’s automobile sector? Is there a mismatch between production capacity and consumer demand? Are there regulatory issues? Or are there other constraints that compel foreign auto majors to pull the plug on India, which, incidentally, is still one of the largest car markets in the world?
Guest: Puneet Gupta, Director of Automotive Sales Forecasting at IHS Markit
Host: G. Sampath, Social Affairs Editor, The Hindu