Increasing production, sales during festive season our focus right now, says SIAM
The auto sector’s priority right now is to fight coronavirus and increase production and sales to cater to the festive season demand, while other important matters like reduction in GST rate on two-wheelers could be taken up at a later stage, industry body SIAM said on Friday. “Right now, nationally and globally everybody is fighting the coronavirus. We will have to collaborate and integrate our effort to fight this pandemic. It is the priority right now,” Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) President Kenichi Ayukawa told reporters.
He was responding to a query if the industry body has made another attempt in the hope of convincing the government to cut the GST rate on two-wheelers.
In August, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said two-wheelers were neither a luxury nor sin goods and so merit a GST revision.
But in the August 27 GST Council meeting, nothing materialised and the tax rate remained the same.
Two-wheelers attract 28 per cent GST and the two-wheeler industry has been demanding to reduce it to 18 per cent.
Ayukawa said the priority for the industry right now was to increase production and sales in the festive season while meeting COVID-19 related safety protocols.