A clarion call has aired from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers against the government’s rejection for uniform excise duty for vehicles. The SIAM has accepted the 8% uniform duty, in principle, but is seeking a kind of incentivisation of small cars and multi utility vehicles. The tax tariff in practice is 20% flat excise and Rs15000 additional levy for cars in the size of more than 4 meters and engine displacement of 1200cc petrol and 1500cc diesel engines. SIAM demands for the waiving of this tariff and claims for uniform excise duty as an alternative to 20% flat excise duty.
The Association President put forth his claims that the automobile industry is poised to increase its turnover to three times more than the current one in the next seven yeas. Further, employment opportunities are aplenty for low cost cars industry so that the market would widen to the world at a reasonable rate. The association is in the verge of implementing two varied programmes for alternate fuel and energy. The National Hybrid Propulsion Programmed provides an ideal platform for the people involved. The other one depends on hydrogen for fuel purpose with the mixture of CNG to operate all kinds of vehicles under advanced stage of implementation.
The European norms seek this sort of fuels and the Indian equivalent to this Bharat Stage V is just a few months away with the BS IV to get outdated. Similarly, the Anti-Lock Breaking System too would become a must by 2012 for all vehicles but SIAM pleas for the norm only for CVs in the coming year.