SIAM appoints Maruti’s Kechini Ayukawa as president for the next two years
1 min read 04 Sep 2020, 06:55 PM ISTThe executive committee of the lobby group also appointed Ashok Leyland’s managing director, Vipin Sondhi, as the vice-presidentThe appointment of Ayukawa comes at a time when the auto industry has been facing its worst crisis ever due to the prevailing Covid-19 induced economic crisis
PremiumSociety of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Friday announced Kenichi Ayukawa, managing director and chief executive of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, as the president for the next two years. Ayukawa will take over from Rajan Wadhera, former president of the automotive business of Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd.
The executive committee of the lobby group also appointed Ashok Leyland’s managing director, Vipin Sondhi, as the vice-president.
The appointment of Ayukawa comes at a time when the auto industry has been facing its worst crisis ever due to the prevailing Covid-19 induced economic crisis. Auto sales in India declined in the range of 15-25%, cutting across sectors in FY 20 and are expected to plunge around 25-45% in the current fiscal, according to a forecast by SIAM.
Despite witnessing decent recovery in retail sales, automakers like Maruti Suzuki and others are struggling to ramp up manufacturing due to disruption in supply chain network. The prevailing lockdown in different states, rising Covid-19 cases and increased inspection of imported parts from China have also caused major problems for auto makers and their suppliers.
“We understand, that if the Government wants to do good for the country, it needs funds. Government revenues come from the taxes on the GDP that we generate. So, it is important for us to maximize production and sales volume. This will help to protect lively-hoods and also keep Government revenues healthy to fund welfare initiatives," said Ayukawa in his speech at the 60th annual general meeting of SIAM.
“We will eagerly wait for the GST reduction and Scrappage scheme. We believe that the taxes on the increased turnover will be more than the Government’s expenditure on this scrappage scheme on GST rate reduction," he added.
Domestic wholesale of passenger vehicles in the April to July period declined by 62.7% while, two wheelers also witnessed a massive drop of 60.54%.
