OLA, Uber Led to Automobile Sector Slowdown: Nirmala Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the slowdown in the automobile sector was due to many factors like the change in mindset of millennials, who now prefer taxi aggregators like OLA and UBER instead of committing for monthly instalments to own a car.

Sitharaman said the automobile industry did have its "good times" till two years ago. "It was definitely a good upward trajectory for the automobile sector", she told reporters. The minister said the sector had been affected by several things, including movement towards BS-VI norms and registration-related matters and (also) change in mindsets.

She said some studies had revealed that there was a change in the mindset of the Millenials not to commit any EMIs (equated monthly instalments) towards buying an automobile and instead of taking OLA, UBER or the Metro (train) services. "So, a whole lot of factors are influencing the automobile sector. We are all seized of the problem. We will try to solve it", she said.

The Bharat Stage VI (or BS-VI) emission norm will come into force from 1 April 2020 across the country. Currently, vehicles conform to BS-IV emission standards. On August 23, in a bid to address the slowdown in the auto sector, Sitharaman had announced lifting the ban on the purchase of vehicles by government departments and allowed an additional 15 per cent depreciation on vehicles acquired from now till March 2020. Also, the government clarified that BS-IV vehicles purchased up to March 2020 would remain operational for the entire period of registration, while also considering various measures, including scrappage policy to boost demand.