Preference for Uber, Ola to blame for auto sector crisis, says FM

Chennai, September 10

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said the slowdown in the automobile sector was due to many factors, including the change in mindset of millennials who prefer taxi aggregators like Ola and Uber instead of committing for monthly instalments to own a car.

The minister said the automobile industry did have its “good times” till two years ago. “It was definitely a good upward trajectory for the automobile sector,” she told reporters. She said the sector had been affected by several things, including movement towards BS-VI norms and registration-related matters and change in mindset.

She said some studies had revealed that there was a change in the mindset of the millenials not to commit any EMIs (equated monthly instalments) towards buying an automobile and instead taking OLA, UBER or the Metro (train) services.

“So, a whole lot of factors are influencing the automobile sector. We are all seized of the problem. We will try to solve it,” she said. The BS-VI emission norm will come into force from April 1, 2020, across the country.

On August 23, in a bid to address the slowdown in the auto sector, Sitharaman had announced lifting the ban on purchase of vehicles by government departments and allowed an additional 15 per cent depreciation on vehicles acquired from now till March 2020. — PTI