INDIA 2.0 is growth centralised with digitalisation

February 1, 2021 2:49 pm

Our ambition is to continue building and reinforcing Volkswagen Group’s position in the Indian market, and our activities in this respect are centredaround the preferences of our Indian customers.

Mojmir Hajek, Executive Director – Technical and Head – Production and Logistics, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited

MojmirHajek, Executive Director – Technical and Head of Production and Logistics, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited, explains OEM Update magazine how the changes in policy for indian market with concentration on ‘Make in India’ has helped the growth in automotive sector.

Government aims to increase the share of the manufacturing sector to country’s GDP to 25% by 2025. How will automotive sector contribute in the same?

The barriers impeding growth is currently more to do with market sentiments and realignment to the consumer’s changing needs. The automotive sector has always been a major contributor to the country’s development, not only in terms of absolute contribution to the country’s GDP, but also a significant indicator of manufacturing prowess. Overall starting the year 2021, the sector is expected to embark on a hastened recovery supported by landmark policy decisions, starting with the Production Linked Incentive Scheme to the much awaited development focused scrappage policy. The industry and specifically the ancillary units should continue to focus on further modernisation of infrastructure to be able to support the localisation ambition of OEMs.

With increased reliance on digitisation, which automation technologies have emerged enormously in driving growth in Automotive sector?

AI, AR and the increasing accessibility of 3D printing technologies are playing a big role in the development of the automotive manufacturing sector. To a large extent, these technologies are turning out to be a big level playing field offering the ability to customise offering suited to a particular geographical need and hence offering the unparalleled benefit of higher localisations.

Automated technologies are widely adopted by almost every industry, including MSMEs and do you see democratization of automation as a reality in the near future?

Getting everyone to benefit from the artificial intelligence boom could be more challenging than some expect/other aspect. The risk involved with democratization of automation is as high as climate change on our society. However, I do expect the change to be gradual than a radical shift and that will ease in the balance between the Human Touch and Technology to plan a parallel path towards a seamless merger in the future.

Under the ‘Make in India’ initiative, can India become a ‘plus one’ destination by cutting down its dependency on imports?

The Make in India initiative coupled with Prime Minister Shree NarendraModi’s call for AtmaNirbhar Bharat will continue to have more ‘material impact’ on India’s manufacturing sector. We are already a large market and that provides the required scale to many manufacturing industries to introduce localised technology towards development of value product and services. India also have access to skilled and semi-skilled workforce which gives it an unequivocal advantage to be the manufacturing and service hub for the world. However, there is also a requirement to continue to import some products/ services which are not our focus area and hence balance the intra-dependency between different regions. As a global community, I think we have to continue to build our competencies wherever we can and fulfil the gaps with those having a better access or advantage in the global supply chain.

Apart from automation and IoT, what can be the next big thing in transforming your sector?

Auto Industry will work around Digitalization, 3D Printing and Electrification in 2021.  Digital dealerships and launches have been a welcomed move, hence the focus is on keeping up with it and make customer experience smooth. The restrictions on trade during the pandemic have laid a lot of emphasis on localisation and 3D printing capacity is something the industry should continue to build on.

What are your plans and projections for the next years?

The INDIA 2.0 project remains an integral part of ŠKODA AUTO’s and Volkswagen Groups growth strategy. Our ambition is to continue building and reinforcing Volkswagen Group’s position in the Indian market, and our activities in this respect are centredaround the preferences of our Indian customers. 2021 is an exciting year for us as the first products of the India 2.0 project will be launched in the domestic market from both Skoda Auto and Volkswagen this year. In many ways, this will be a landmark year for the group with the first of our Made in India, Made for India SUVs rollout built on the India specific MQB-A0 IN platform.