New National Auto Policy Coming Soon: Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete

A new National Auto Policy is currently being readied which will lay emphasis on reducing vehicular emissions as well as on green mobility, Heavy Industries Minister Anant Geete said earlier. Also in the offing is the second edition of the Centre's Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (Fame) programme which expires in December, Geete said in his inaugural address at the annual session here of the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA).

"We are going to come out with a new auto policy which will accommodate the wishes of the entire industry and take their suggestions into account," Geete said. According to ministry officials here, discussions with various stakeholders have been on for the past six months to frame the new policy, which envisages having a nodal regulatory body for the automobile industry.

The draft policy released earlier had recommended rationalisation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) structure for automobiles by replacing the current classification criteria with a composite criterion based on vehicle length and carbon dioxide emissions.

"Government is also going to come out with a Fame 2 scheme in the future as Fame 1 is coming to an end on December 31," Geete said. "I am currently not in a position to divulge more details about Fame 2 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will make more announcements on this at the electric mobility summit here later this week."

Geete complimented ACMA for keeping the Indian industry up-to-date with the latest innovations, and said the body is an integral complement to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) who are going to hold their annual session here on Thursday.

In his address earlier, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the country's economy needs to be strengthened by reducing crude oil imports through use of biofuels and increasing exports by the automobile industry. "We are thinking seriously on how we can reduce the 'permit raj' in the field of alternate fuels and electric mobility," he said.