India's auto parts industry will record sales of $40 billion by 2015 and become as important to the economy as the thriving software sector, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said Jan. 12. during a trade show in New Delhi..
"India has a $20 billion auto component export potential by 2015," he said. By the same year, the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India, an industry trade group, expects domestic demand to hit an additional $20 billion.
"We are seeing the emergence of India as an important automotive destination," said A.K. Taneja, head of the association. "In the last five years we have seen an annual growth rate of 20% per year." Taneja added that the auto parts industry is expected to be worth $10 billion in the fiscal year ending March 2006. It is fuelled by domestic car sales that passed the one million mark for the first time last year and by foreign outsourcing to India.
By comparison, India's software sector is forecast to grow 25% a year by the end of the decade to $60 billion, according to the latest estimates by the National Association of Software and Service Companies.
The show attracted 1,000 participants, including 300 foreign traders from some 22 countries.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2006
