India's Auto Industry Aims for Global Top Spot, Cuts Logistics Costs

India's automobile sector is set to attain the top global position within five years, with an ambitious goal to lower logistics costs in India to 9 percent in a span of two years. Addressing the Amazon Smbhav Summit, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari highlighted the impressive expansion of India's automobile sector, stating that it has escalated from Rs 7 trillion to Rs 22 trillion since he assumed office.

"First is USA -- Rs 78 trillion, second-largest automobile industry is in China--Rs 47 trillion, and now India is at Rs 22 trillion. I am confident that within 5 years, we want to make Indian automobile industry number 1 in the world," he said.

The minister stated that the presence of well-known international car brands in India clearly signifies the nation's potential. He elaborated on his ministry's aim to lower logistics expenses in India to a single digit in the next 2 years.

"The logistic cost in India is 16 per cent and in China it is 8 per cent, in USA and European countries, it is 12 per cent. The government has decided to reduce the logistic costs...in my ministry, we have the target that within 2 years, we will take this logistic cost to 9 per cent," he said.

Gadkari emphasized particular initiatives that will significantly reduce travel durations between key cities. He mentioned that the trip from Delhi to Dehradun, presently taking around nine hours, will be shortened to only two hours by January 2025. Likewise, the travel durations between Delhi-Mumbai and Chennai-Bengaluru are anticipated to reduce considerably, he mentioned.

He emphasized the necessity of adopting alternative fuels and biofuels, stating that using bio-ethanol in cars could result in considerable savings on fuel expenses while also decreasing pollution levels.

Gadkari also detailed strategies to transform organic waste into hydrogen fuel and other useful resources using advanced recycling technologies.