After a year of high and low, the Indian auto component players are eyeing the Union Budget 2017 to clear the air of negative sentiments which emerged recently after demonetisation. Auto component makers expect the government to announce the period when Goods and Services Tax (GST) will be rolled-out with an enough lead time for them to transit its implementation. Also, they expect their finished goods to be placed at lower GST slab.

“We expect lower GST rate for the auto component industry, a detailed roll-out plan and adequate transition period for its implementation and readiness. We anticipate that the budget will help improve the overall sentiment in the industry so as to enable momentum in the auto sector,” said Deepak Jain, MD, Lumax Industries.

Rattan Kapur, President, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), said, “To achieve the world-class quality and new product development the auto component industry have to enhance spend on R&D and create relevant infrastructure for innovation. It is therefore, critical that earlier weighted deduction of 200 percent of R&D expenditure be immediately restored.”