New Delhi, Sept 4 : Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Kamal Nath on Thursday said that auto exports from India should reach 25 billion dollar in the next decade.

He was speaking at the “Making India a Global Automotive Export Hub” at the Annual Convention of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), here today. He said the government will play its part by providing the “enabling policy framework” and added that the auto sector should take advantage of these and leverage their strengths for expanding to other parts of the world.

Kamal Nath further stated that by the middle of the next decade, India should be the destination of choice for design and manufacture of automotive components and vehicles in the world.

The Minister said that “The Indian automobile industry today is all about scale. Maruti hopes to have a capacity of one million cars by 2010; Hyundai is looking at 600,000 cars in another year; Toyota is talking about 200,000 cars by year end; the Nissan Renault venture is planning a capacity of 400,000 cars. General Motors and Honda are setting up new plants, as is Tata for its Nano.”

During his address, he underlined that the employment in the automotive sector would go up three times and exports should go up nine times. “The future challenges for the Indian automobile industry would be to develop a supply base with emphasis on lower costs and economies of scale, develop technical and human capabilities, overcome infrastructural bottlenecks, stimulate domestic demand and exploit export and international business opportunities,” he said.

While concluding the address, Kamal Nath commended the auto industry for keeping its spirits up despite the current slowdown caused by high interest rates and escalating input costs. “I believe this is a passing phase. The auto sectors inherent strength coupled with the dynamism and entrepreneurial spirit of its business leaders, we shall soon be motoring along – well on our way to becoming a Global Automotive Hub,” he added. (ANI)