Automobile Industry In India
Car-ownership is a symbol of economic progress and is very high on a consumers wish list of products. The face of the Indian automobile market has changed tremendously since the turn of the millennium and will change even further since Nano. Indian automobile industry has metamorphosed into a great industry since the first car ran on the streets of Bombay in 1898. Today, automobile sector in India is one of the key sectors of the economy in terms of the employment. Directly and indirectly it employs more than 10 million people and if we add the number of people employed in the auto-component and auto ancillary industry then the number goes even higher.
The automobile industry lists heavy vehicles like the trucks, buses, tempos, tractors, private or commercial passenger cars and two-wheelers. The automobile sector in India underwent a metamorphosis as a result of the liberalization policies by the government since 1991 which included relaxation of the foreign exchange and equity regulations, reduction of tariffs on imports, and refining the banking policies. After the automobile industry opened to direct investment from foreign countries in 1996, global automobile industry majors moved in. Automobile industry in India also received a boost from stringent government auto emission regulations over the past few years. This ensured that vehicles produced in India conformed to the standards of the developed world.