What does the auto sector expect from the Union Budget 2019?
The bigger challenge is to bring down the cost of funds, which has gone up because NBFCs are not able to raise funds at low cost. This will be the key to reviving auto sector demand. Amarjeet Maurya The Indian auto sector has been facing one of its worst periods in the last year. Year-on-year (YoY), the sales of automobiles has dropped by over 20 percent and the inventories are piling up. It is in this backdrop that the Union Budget 2019 is being presented. So, what exactly are the expectations from the Union Budget for the auto sector? Reduction of GST on automobiles: it on par with sin goods like cigarettes and other items of luxury consumption. Actually, automobiles are neither! The first expectation is that the GST on automobiles should be reduced from 28 percent to a more rational level of 18 percent at a policy level. The auto industry believes that this reduction in prices can be passed on to the end customer, which would be instrumenta...