Automakers Miss The Bus In Bangladesh, Nepal

When the demand was high, Indian firms ignored them and are now paying the price

- Pratim Ranjan Bose

At a time when anaemic domestic demand is keeping the Indian automobile industry tottering on the edge, a host of issues have come back to haunt it on the export front too. These include: neglecting demands from Bangladesh and Nepal when the going was good and over-stocking regional markets at the end of the last fiscal, arguably to inflate export figures.

According to ITC Comtrade, in 2018, India exported $1.87 billion worth of motor vehicles to Bangladesh ($1.15 billion) and Nepal ($721 million). This was 10 per cent of the country’s auto export revenue of $18.23 billion. Exports contributed over 22 per cent of the $67 billion industry turnover in 2016-17.

The situation is looking bleak this year with auto exports to both Bangladesh and Nepal significantly down during AprilJuly. This is significant because unlike India, both these countries are on a high growth curve.