STUCK IN REVERSE GEAR

THE PANDEMIC IS SET TO PUSH THE AUTO INDUSTRY BACK BY OVER A DECADE, PARTIAL RECOVERY IN JUNE AND JULY HAS RAISED HOPES, BUT WILL IT SUSTAIN?

- SUMANT BANERJI

On March 29, four days after the country went into the lockdown, Ram Krishna Pal, a machine operator at a component unit in Dundahera village of Gurgaon was told his services were no longer needed. Going back to his home in Sitamarhi in Bihar was not an option. Now, he is finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. “My contractor said the company has reduced the output due to new regulations and, hence, does not require as many people as before. Factories have opened up all around but employment has shrunk,” he says.

Dealerships, the front end of the automobile industry, tell a similar story of despair and loss of optimism. Cut to the last fortnight of March, the first phase of the lockdown, when sales executives were putting in extra hours to liquidate stocks of BSIV vehicles by the end of the month, before BS-VI emission norms kicked in from April 1. “There was a lot of pressure on us and we had stiff targets but at least the business was good,” says Ambuj Sahu, who works in a two-wheeler dealership in Gonda in Uttar Pradesh. “The lockdown was a major disruption. The showroom remained shut till May 12 but the momentum had been lost. I am lucky to have the job even though I got half the salary for April. I know so many people who were doing well in March but were jobless in May.”