Indian Auto industry - The Growth Engine of India's manufacturing

The Indian auto industry today contributes to 49 percent of manufacturing GDP and provides employment to more than 32 million people directly and indirectly. India today is a destination of choice for global auto investments both in the vehicle and component sector. Considering the fact that India still has a very low car penetration of 21 per 1,000 people, compared to more than 600 in developed countries, an aspiring and growing middle class and a growing economy, the Indian auto industry is poised to become the third largest in the world by 2026.

The "Make in India" for the world campaign, launched by Prime Minster Shri Narendra Modi in 2014 is a clear direction for transforming the manufacturing paradigm in India. Government of India is making concerted efforts in this direction by increasing investment in infrastructure, increasing the labour pool through the ‘Skill India' initiative, establishing tax reforms through the ‘one nation-one market-one tax' (GST) regime and attracting more foreign investments, especially in the area of defence and electronics. All this signals a major growth potential for manufacturers who are poised to make the most of this new terrain and make India a manufacturing base for the world.

Leveraging this opportunity will require a multi-faceted and innovative approach, but the central theme will still revolve around the customer and global quality. The Indian economy is integrating with the world. Travel and Internet are exposing Indian customers to world class quality standards. Indian customer aspirations are changing very fast and quality standards of yesterday are no longer acceptable today. Organisations need to keep abreast of these developments on a real-time basis and adjust/improve their quality standards quickly to remain relevant for the market. Leadership needs to ensure quality processes are in place across the organisation to meet these evolving business requirements.

The good news is that quality management does now extend across the enterprise from production floors to front offices, according to the ASQ report. Two in five see quality as a cross-enterprise initiative. Almost 60 percent of all survey respondents report their quality management efforts involve operations, and 52 percent say customer service is part of their quality efforts. Nearly half the respondents say quality is part of their production efforts, the traditional home of quality management over the years.

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