The automobile industry must look at its own shortcomings before asking for stimulus from the government, said Rajiv Bajaj, managing director of Bajaj Auto.
"Most of the automobile slowdown is the industry's own making," he said in an interview with CNBC-TV18 on August 22.
Bajaj said that Indian auto products are mediocre and the sector needs to ask itself if it's done enough to become globally competitive.
"Lot of these companies are not able to export because frankly, by world-class standards, their products are mediocre. Obviously, I don't want to name them but when you make everything… when you will make scooters, and bikes and cars and jeeps and SUVs and trucks and buses and everything under the sun, you are obviously not going to be world-class at anything," he said.
Talking about the two-wheeler segment, he said the retails sales in the space declined 5-7 percent. This drop, according to him, cannot be called a crisis.
"In terms of motorcycles, I was looking at these numbers yesterday, year on year, the decline in retail sales is only around 5-7 percent... if that can be called a crisis then what is it we mean by the normal up and down cycle of a business?" he asked.
The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on August 19 released the July 2019 vehicle registration data, which showed that on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the overall sales declined 6 percent.
Two-wheeler sales dipped by 5 percent, passenger vehicles (PV) by 11 percent and commercial vehicles (CV) by 14 percent, showed the data.
Bajaj, however, acknowledged that it is a difficult time for the sector and said that the government should not make it worse by raising registration fees.
Further, Bajaj said that the focus was on now ensuring that retail sales are as good as wholesale. "We will use the festive season to completely correct stock at the dealership level," he added.
Source: CNBC-TV18
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