In yet another instance of his softening stand towards industry, environment minister Jairam Ramesh has assured the automotive industry that he was not anti-diesel nor anti-SUV. In a meeting with Pawan Goenka, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Monday, Ramesh assured that he is not against the automotive industry but added that all factors relating to pollution and emission would have to be considered.
?We had a discussion on various issues. He said that he was not anti-diesel as some may have thought. As a matter of routine exercise we speak to various government bodies including the environment,? Goenka told FE.
Though Goenka did not wish to outline the specific details of the meeting, he however, said that there were various points of importance relating to emission norms and diesel norms which also came up for discussion.
The meeting comes in the backdrop of rising industry concern on the possibility of an imposition of a gas guzzler tax by the finance ministry in the upcoming Budget at the insistence of the environment ministry. In fact, in November Ramesh?s statement on SUV driving being ?criminal? had shocked the industry. Ramesh had mooted the idea of having a sound fuel policy regime to discourage the use of heavy SUVs.
Meanwhile in a press briefing earlier, Goenka who is also president (automotive division) of the country?s leading utility player Mahindra & Mahindra, outlined the broad product strategy after the full acquisition of the South Korean SUV company Ssangyong Motors. As per the plan, M&M is going to introduce two new SUV products from Ssangyong in India by the end of the calendar year ? Rexton and Korando.