Inventing The CV Industry

A panel discussion under the theme, ‘Inventing the CV industry’, at the beginning of the Apollo CV Awards 2019 saw the leaders of the CV industry express their thoughts.

- Bhushan Mhapralkar

Opining that the Government was the boss of the CV industry in response to a question asked by VG Ramakrishnan, Managing Director, Avanteum Advisors, Satish Sharma, President – APMEA, Apollo Tyres, touched upon the fabulous growth the CV industry experienced for the seven months of 2018. Moving on to disruption, he spoke about the axle norms and the liquidity situation. Opining that there was a failure in factoring these changes perhaps, he once again stressed on the Government being the boss. Vinod Sahay, CEO, Mahindra & Mahindra (Truck and Bus Division), in response said that the situation has been challenging. “The CV industry witnessed a good amount of disruption in the last few months, be it the diesel price hike or the financial liquidity strain,” he stated. Expressing that the rise in the base rate has not yet been passed on, Sahay mentioned, “The rising cost pressure faced by the transporters and their inability to pass it on to their clients is causing a strain.” “On the positive side, the GST has played a role,” he added. Stressing on takt time reduction leading to better utilisation of assets, Sahay expressed a need for good demand. Opining that the advantage of state barriers going down is not as effective anymore, he said that the CV industry is a barometer of the economy, and it is facing challenges. Stressing on the point, Sahay averred, “There has been a slowdown in industrial growth, fall in consumption and a lacklustre festive season.” Touching upon axle norms, he commented that it has worked against the transporters in many ways than it has worked in their favour. “The end-customers have deducted the savings by doing a calculation on a spreadsheet,” he added.