Indian Automotive Sector


India plans to slash tariffs on cars imported from the European Union to 40% from as high as 110%, sources said, in the biggest opening yet of the country's vast market as the two sides close in on a free trade pact that could come as early as Tuesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government has agreed to immediately reduce the tax on a limited number of cars from the 27-nation bloc with an import price of more than 15,000 euros ($17,739), two sources briefed on the talks told Reuters.

This will be further lowered to 10% over time, they added, easing access to the Indian market for European automakers such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and BMW.

PACT ALREADY DUBBED 'MOTHER OF ALL DEALS​

New Delhi has proposed slashing import duties to 40% immediately for about 200,000 combustion-engine cars a year, one of the sources said, its most aggressive move yet to open up the sector. This quota could be subject to last-minute changes, the source added.

Battery electric vehicles will be excluded from import duty reductions for the first five years to protect investments by domestic players like Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors in the nascent sector, the two sources said. After five years EVs will follow similar duty cuts.
 
https://twitter.com/x/status/2026492955855605827

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_Anonymous_ said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2027638303978319891

Posting this here instead of the automotive thread for all those hopeful that in 1-2 decades TASL will emerge as some sort of independent OEM for Transporters & / or hptrs.

Although Mahindra is in the same boat , I'm a wee bit optimistic they can emerge as an independent OEM in the aviation sector which obviously includes designing abilities for aircraft & hptrs .

Mind you I'm only slightly more optimistic about Mahindra than the Tata Group . If both of them continue being glorified labour contractors not progressing beyond screwdrivergiri , profiting from labour arbitrage like cyber coolie companies Infosys , TCS , Wipro , HCL etc don't be surprised in the least.

Interested folks can check out the thread. It's a damning indictment of our "indigenous" auto makers .
Click to expand...

For this to change, a policy directive would have to come from GoI along with an incentive structure similar to PLI for R&D, imo.
 
_Anonymous_ said:
https://twitter.com/x/status/2027638303978319891

Posting this here instead of the automotive thread for all those hopeful that in 1-2 decades TASL will emerge as some sort of independent OEM for Transporters & / or hptrs.

Although Mahindra is in the same boat , I'm a wee bit optimistic they can emerge as an independent OEM in the aviation sector which obviously includes designing abilities for aircraft & hptrs .

Mind you I'm only slightly more optimistic about Mahindra than the Tata Group . If both of them continue being glorified labour contractors not progressing beyond screwdrivergiri , profiting from labour arbitrage like cyber coolie companies Infosys , TCS , Wipro , HCL etc don't be surprised in the least.

Interested folks can check out the thread. It's a damning indictment of our "indigenous" auto makers .
Click to expand...

That's why I prefer the term Kirana industry. They don't build things. They just sell it.

It's like Nehru parivaar changed the name of east india company to India Inc. and carried on.

Also the thing to notice here is that even the screwdrivered / foreign engines took decades and materialised in 2014-2016.
Now same story is being repeated with EV. Neither of these businessman are developing their own tech. All are looking to buy Chinese Tech and now look like a lost puppy looking everywhere when CCP denied them the tech. That's the kind of pit they have dug themselves for and their whole upper management is deep in it. Them being legacy makes it even harder for generational changes needed.

Start-ups are our true hope. The funding/capital our real bottleneck. The wealth lay unused and wasted in hands of these kirana industrialist.
 
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Speedster1 said:
For this to change, a policy directive would have to come from GoI along with an incentive structure similar to PLI for R&D, imo.
Click to expand...
No. It's not a policy problem. It's an institutional problem. The kind of mindset and baggage that prevails in these institutions is so outdated for present India. They are finding it very hard to keep up with the growth in the standards, demand, talent of majority of India. That's why foreign companies are finding a market that was never served properly and having a bonanza.

Just look at HCL, wipro, infosys. When the writing is on the wall, they still can't admit their mistake and correct the broken model of providing labor. I am going to get flak for saying this.. but these companies are higher end version of HR companies and a toned down version of Slave merchants.

This isn't about policy. It's about priority. These kirana guys have their money stuck in land. Land worth billions of rupees and blocking the development instead. They will build a mega Mart with 4 open shops, open a fashion institute, a wildlife Safari..
With that, they can build their own supply chain of top talent and R&D. Build schools. Build specialised colleges. Build labs, testing facility etc. build factory. Sell. India is big enough for them to have their own pipeline around a single category of products each.
 
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Subgradewalker said:
That's why I prefer the term Kirana industry. They don't build things. They just sell it.

It's like Nehru parivaar changed the name of east india company to India Inc. and carried on.

Also the thing to notice here is that even the screwdrivered / foreign engines took decades and materialised in 2014-2016.
Now same story is being repeated with EV. Neither of these businessman are developing their own tech. All are looking to buy Chinese Tech and now look like a lost puppy looking everywhere when CCP denied them the tech. That's the kind of pit they have dug themselves for and their whole upper management is deep in it. Them being legacy makes it even harder for generational changes needed.

Start-ups are our true hope. The funding/capital our real bottleneck. The wealth lay unused and wasted in hands of these kirana industrialist.
Click to expand...
While I agree somewhat with the article. I don't understand why Swarajya is interpreting certain statements that way. Hiring foreign consultancy doesn't mean Mahindra and Tata are suddenly not doing anything. How do they know that AVL contributes 80% of the value? Source kaha hai? How do they know AVL provides 20% for others? Iska bhi source kaha hai?

Such tall claim requires proper evidence to back it up. Just because certain vague statements are there. Those can never be interpreted in terms of value. The article remain strong till first part. But then it ends up going into a lot of maybe categories with the whole AVL part.
 
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World's 2 of the 3 top selling 2 wheeler brands are from India, 3rd having a strong presence in india... The forex this industry brings to country is huge!!!!
 
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redpanda said:
While I agree somewhat with the article. I don't understand why Swarajya is interpreting certain statements that way. Hiring foreign consultancy doesn't mean Mahindra and Tata are suddenly not doing anything. How do they know that AVL contributes 80% of the value? Source kaha hai? How do they know AVL provides 20% for others? Iska bhi source kaha hai?

Such tall claim requires proper evidence to back it up. Just because certain vague statements are there. Those can never be interpreted in terms of value. The article remain strong till first part. But then it ends up going into a lot of maybe categories with the whole AVL part.
Click to expand...

I remember digging about this a couple month back. What they did wasn't limited to consultancy. They bought IP for old engine. And then got consultancy to upgrade it.

What they have done tho is built expertise in ruggedising them for Indian conditions. That's where even foreign players couldn't compete.

This will all be okay if they had invested in more R&D since then but looking at how EV tech is turning out.. it's not the results, it's the approach. I would've nothing to complain if it were just the results, since this is supposed to be time consuming.
But their portfolios, investment indicates nothing to suggest that they are turning towards IP creation.
And the window is closing fast while the ceiling is getting higher. MNCs are finding India more receptive and FTAs are making it easier to invest without dragging an indian kiranist along.

I Remeber reading reports a few days ago when reliance or some company found its project stalled becoz it couldn't get chinese partner agree to share the tech. Even Ola EV is built around chinese cell tech.


Wipro, HCS are still not turning to a product centric approach. Just the coders under them now have to know Machine Learning. They have tied up with pvt colleges to start courses that teaches/upskill graduates in 6-8 months.


nair said:
World's 2 of the 3 top selling 2 wheeler brands are from India, 3rd having a strong presence in india... The forex this industry brings to country is huge!!!!
Click to expand...

The issue isn't about the value of the industry. If it didn't bring forex then Japanese companies wouldn't be increasing their investments , world wouldn't be looking forward to an FTA with India.
But, the propulsion tech.. the science.. remains outside of our reach still. Its locked in the database of parent companies.
 
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Subgradewalker said:
I remember digging about this a couple month back. What they did wasn't limited to consultancy. They bought IP for old engine. And then got consultancy to upgrade it.

What they have done tho is built expertise in ruggedising them for Indian conditions. That's where even foreign players couldn't compete.

This will all be okay if they had invested in more R&D since then but looking at how EV tech is turning out.. it's not the results, it's the approach. I would've nothing to complain if it were just the results, since this is supposed to be time consuming.
But their portfolios, investment indicates nothing to suggest that they are turning towards IP creation.



The issue isn't about the value of the industry. If it didn't bring forex then Japanese companies wouldn't be increasing their investments , world wouldn't be looking forward to an FTA with India.
But, the propulsion tech.. the science.. remains outside of our reach still.
Click to expand...
Any source on the first part of your statement? Tata has even developed a new engine recently completely in-house. So, i do not think that experience is lost even if it is true that they bought old design & IP from elsewhere.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1997915218178089255


Also, some degree of foreign input is always going to be there. That is the industry standard. We have to accept it, not everything can be made locally.

The problem here is quantifying that in absolute terms. That is where I disagree with author in the AVL section of that article. I do not disagree with them in other sections of the article. Such simple split of 80/20 looks good to read but on what basis this has been calculated? Where does this comes from? Why it's 20% for Toyota, VW, etc. While 80% for Mahindra & Tata? How is the author actually measuring this 80%? Is it the physical component count of the engine? Is it R&D budget spent? Is it man-hours dedicated to the project? Is it the number of patents generated? Multiple such questions arise in my mind yet none of that has been answered in that article. Aside from some PR statements. I don't think one can extrapolate those into quantifiable figures.
 
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redpanda said:
Any source on the first part of your statement? Tata has even developed a new engine recently completely in-house. So, i do not think that experience is lost even if it is true that they bought old design & IP from elsewhere.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1997915218178089255


Also, some degree of foreign input is always going to be there. That is the industry standard. We have to accept it, not everything can be made locally.

The problem here is quantifying that in absolute terms. That is where I disagree with author in the AVL section of that article. I do not disagree with them in other sections of the article. Such simple split of 80/20 looks good to read but on what basis this has been calculated? Where does this comes from? Why it's 20% for Toyota, VW, etc. While 80% for Mahindra & Tata? How is the author actually measuring this 80%? Is it the physical component count of the engine? Is it R&D budget spent? Is it man-hours dedicated to the project? Is it the number of patents generated? Multiple such questions arise in my mind yet none of that has been answered in that article. Aside from some PR statements. I don't think one can extrapolate those into quantifiable figures.
Click to expand...
I am not agreeing with their quantifying of contribution of indigineous research. Those things can never be quantified. In any program.

But it does hit the nerve right about the lack of our own pvt ecosystem to advance the science. It's like the difference between IIT and IISc. Sheldon and Howard. DRDO and BEL. Etc etc.

And that TATA being one of the "front runners" when it comes to R&D due to their heavy involvement in defense sector. The rest are in worse condition.


Note: This is my comment on the current state of these big big corporates. Not the startups and younger companies that are building things and applying science.

I am looking for the content that I came across about revtron. I will share it once i find it again.
 
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Parthu said:
TVS Motor Company unveiled a fair few concepts at their EICMA stall in Milan, Italy this year:

[]Tangent RR supersport[/]
G46AoFca0AA7jBd.jpeg
Click to expand...

TVS Tangent RR design patent filed; New 450cc Apache?​


25th February 2026, 12:07 by Tushar Kelshikar
1772385895621.png

TVS' upcoming sport bike is expected to be based on BMW’s new 450cc twin-cylinder platform.​

TVS had showcased the Tangent RR concept bike at EICMA last year. The 2-wheeler maker has now filed a design patent, hinting at a possible production version.

In fact, TVS has been testing a new sport bike lately. It is expected to be based on BMW’s new 450cc twin-cylinder platform and could adopt the Tangent RR’s design.

The patent drawings retain the same sharp and aggressive styling of the concept. It’s a semi-faired design with a distinct-looking front cowl and a narrow tail section.

The clip-on handlebars and rear-set footpegs create a forward-leaning, aggressive posture. The bike is equipped with a USD fork and a mono-shock in the rear. It has alloy wheels with disc brakes, including twin rotors in the front.

TVS’ upcoming sport bike is expected to be powered by the same 450cc engine as the BMW F 450 GS. It produces 47 BHP and 43 Nm and is paired with a 6-speed gearbox.

https://www.team-bhp.com/news/tvs-tangent-rr-design-patent-filed-new-450cc-apache
 
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Tata Motors eyes global expansion post demerger, aligns PV biz with JLR; Iveco deal to boost CV footprint

economictimes.indiatimes.com

Tata Motors eyes global expansion post demerger, aligns PV biz with JLR; Iveco deal to boost CV footprint

Tata Motors is boosting its global presence after a successful FY26 and business split. The company is integrating its passenger car division with Jaguar Land Rover to find new efficiencies. Strong domestic sales in passenger and commercial vehicles are driving this growth. Tata Motors is also...
economictimes.indiatimes.com economictimes.indiatimes.com

  • Expect further streamlining of upstream & downstream suppliers, components & design work between Tata-branded & JLR cars.
  • Once acquisition of Iveco is approved by regulators, Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles aims to leverage it to become a Top 4 CV maker in the world.
 
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