Rise of taxi aggregators, tougher emission regulations, GST roll out and autonomous driving will majorly impact Indian auto industry going ahead, according to Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Managing Director Pawan Goenka. The competitive pressure in the Indian market will also make companies forge alliances as witnessed globally, he said but neither denied nor confirmed speculations on the link-up between M&M and Ford. Amid the changing scenario, he said M&M is focussing on sustainable mobility, seeking to position itself as a catalyst to popularise electric vehicles in India even as it works to increase its volume, market share, revenue and profit. “The automotive industry is changing very rapidly in India and there are three-four factors, which are going to have a major impact on the industry in India and globally in the next four to five years,” Goenka told PTI. The factors are ascent of taxi aggregators such as Ola and Uber, tougher regulations on emissions and safety, upcoming GST and autonomous driving will have an impact in long term, he added. Identifying aggregators such as Ola and Uber to make ‘perhaps the biggest’ impact, he said they are going to ‘significantly change the dynamics of the industry, and in a way take away power of pricing from OEMs to the customers’.
“That's what happens when buyer is stronger than the seller and buyer determines the price,” Goenka said. With India heading towards tougher emission and safety norms, Goenka said vehicles would need to be designed differently and there would be ‘significant increase in the cost of the vehicle’.