Indian automotive industry needs to tackle manpower and infrastructure issues

India was one of the few countries around the world where there was double digit production growth of 25.76 % in the automobile sector for 2009 to 2010. The automobile industry reported a 26.41% growth in sales riding on the government's stimulus packages that perked demand - making it the second fastest growing market in the world after China. A variety of factors, including the stimulus package, lower interest rates, implementation of the sixth pay commission and new model launches, contributed to the tremendous growth.

However, the industry is facing a lack of skilled manpower that can hamper its growth. The slow pace of infrastructure development can also become an obstacle to the industry's aim to achieve a total turnover of US$145 billion and provide an additional employment to 25 million people by 2016 under the Automotive Mission Plan (AMP). Indian ports are also not adequately equipped with electronic information exchange for exports. Skilled labour and infrastructure are thus the two biggest challenges for the Indian auto industry at the moment.