Mumbai/New Delhi: A screechy car brake may stop you dead, literally.
Chances are, every vehicle that is serviced at an unauthorized service station may end up with one such brake—the screech being a giveaway sign that it’s a low-quality brake that could fail anytime.
Many such service stations are small roadside shops, and most car owners frequenting them get taken in by the fact that the packaging on the screechy brake looks much the same as that on the original.
In India, fake auto parts is a thriving business, with a recent study by industry bodies Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) and Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (Acma) estimating its size at between Rs4,400 crore and Rs6,300 crore. That means fakes account for between 32% and 47% of the industry, by value.
Fake automotive parts were responsible for 66,330 accidents even as long back as 1997-98, according to a study conducted at the time by Acma. These accidents caused 13,180 deaths and injured 65,550 people. At the time, Indians bought 3.8 million vehicles a year, compared with more than 10 million now. There has been no study on the accidents caused by fake parts since, but the association says the number could only have increased.
“Spurious auto parts are not treated at the same level as spurious drugs since it doesn’t seem to have an immediate impact,” says Vishnu Mathur, executive director, Acma.
The country also doesn’t have facilities for accident and fatality analysis such as those that exist in the developed world, industry executives say, making efforts to understand the cause of accidents difficult.
The replacement market, or the after-sales market, refers to parts required to replace existing ones in vehicles. The original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, market refers to sales of auto parts to vehicle makers. The replacement market is worth around Rs13,500 crore. In 2006-07, the size of the Indian auto parts industry, including exports, was $14 billion (Rs55,300 crore).
Examples of the most rampantly counterfeited products include bearings, brake pads, brake discs, rubber rings, axle boots and suspension parts—all of which are related to safety rather than the cosmetic appearance of a vehicle.
But the menace of spurious parts is not restricted to just loss of life. It also translates into a revenue loss for an industry that is now struggling with slowing domestic sales and falling exports because of a stronger rupee. It also means less in taxes for the government because the firms that make these fake parts do not pay taxes. According to a study in 1999 by Acma, the government loses Rs1,520 crore or so a year in taxes because of fake parts. Also, auto parts makers ranging from international to local ones say fakes erode their sales and profits.