The interim budget raised mixed emotions from the auto industry experts and companies in India. The interim budget presented yesterday by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on behalf of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. According to the leading industry lobby, there were no tax sops or any specific relief sops for the industry but increased allocation to defence and surface transport ministry would lead to higher sales.
"We hope the government would shortly come up with further fiscal and monetary measures to revive the growth including extension of earlier announced measures, thus addressing such sectoral measures that could not be a part of the interim budget," the lobby said.
Indian auto industry has recorded negative sales growth in the country since past seven months. The outlook for the coming months does not look any brighter either. The commercial vehicle segment had been hit the worst with sales declining as much as 50.96 percent. The passenger car sales segment has also witnessed a decline of 6.9 percent.
However, the ultimate overview of the industry expert remains sceptical about any positive outcome of the budget on the industry or the market sentiments. "It's not necessary that increased defence spending will convert into sales of busses and trucks, neither can the JNNURM funding be directly attributed to sales in the coming days," said Auto Analyst, Murad Baig.