Mr Rajan Wadhera

As the revenues took severe hit, the original equipment manufacturers struggled on meeting fixed cost and working capital requirements, he said. “The industry was already reeling under severe negative growth and the pressure of disrupted supply chain, which were followed by a majority of the auto companies announcing a shutdown of their manufacturing units in the last week of March due to concerns over ensuring workplace safety and health of their employees,” Wadhera said.

He said that as per SIAM’s estimate, the Indian auto industry is losing Rs 2,300 crore in production turnover for every day of closure. The auto industry is engaged in a dialogue with the Government of India on policy measures which could minimize the impact of Covid-19 on the Indian economy, especially the automobile industry.

There would be challenges on the supply side and demand side and also on the issue of availability of finance, which would all need to be addressed to bring back growth in the sector, Wadhera added. Production of vehicles last month declined by 33.61 per cent to 1,447,345 units, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycle, as against 2,180,203 units in March 2019, the data showed.