Automobile manufacturers are taking steps to increase their share, reach and quality in servicing through authorised dealer networks.
Representatives of various vehicle manufacturers present at the conference on trends in automatic services organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), said their focus would be on service network.
In addition to the service outlets of authorised dealers, many manufacturers are also actively developing independent workshops into authorised service centres, through providing training tools and parts?.
At the CEO Forum organised as part of the ?Autoservice 2008,? it was found imperative for the sector to remain competitive. In view of this, servicing is considered as the most critical factor for competitiveness as more than 50% of the dealers? net margins comes from servicing. Automotive servicing is worth Rs 50,000 crore business in India , of which only 20-30% comes under the organised sector.
Independent players are also setting up service networks across the country as ?servicing is a recession proof industry??, according to managing director of Hindustan Motors Ravi Santhanam.
There are also independent players offering post warranty services for multiple vehicle brands. Bosch Car Service and MyTVS have been established players in this segment. Others like Reliance Auto Zone, Mahindra First Choice Services are recent entrants. Altius Autoword and CarNation are the new players planning entry into this sector.
Vinod K Dasari, director of Ashok Leyland, pointed out that the three important Cs of vehicle business are?company, customer and channel in the service network.
Tamil Nadu,emerging as the vehicle manufacturing hub of India would be producing 12.5 lakh passenger cars and 3.5 lakh commercial vehicles a year by 2010. Over 40% of the components would be manufactured in the state, said MF Farooqui, principal secretary of the industries department. He said the setback in the manufacturing sector was only temporary and the road ahead is clear and promising.
Responding to the suggestion from R Dinesh, joint managing director of TV Sundaram Iyengar & Sons and chairman, Auto serve, 2008, said the state government must facilitate skill training for automotive servicing in all parts of the state, Farooqui said, the industries could join hands with ITIs and supplement the infrastructure for imparting training and human resource development.
He added SIPCOT would be willing to provide land for setting up training centres. Dinesh also want the government to create special zones for automotive servicing.
Venu Srinivasan, chairman and managing director of TVS Motors and vice-president, CII, said the current lull in the market should be seen as an opportunity for India . He said the government should increase spending on infrastructure building by making use of the labour losing job in the manufacturing sector. ?This is also an opportunity for mergers and acquisitions within the country and abroad??, he said.
A study by KPMG for CII, on ?Skill gaps in Indian automotive service sector? found the size of the automotive service market in India is estimated between $8 billion and $10 billion. The manufacturers are therefore focused on improving the reach and quality of their service networks.
