The Indian automotive industry will grow six to sevenfold from the current four million vehicles per year by 2047, Baba Kalyani, chairman and managing director, Bharat Forge, said on Monday.
“It took 75 years to go from zero to four million units, and in 25 years we will go from four million to 25-30 million units. that is the kind of growth the automotive industry will see,” Kalyani said. He was speaking at a fireside chat with Ravi Pandit, chairman, KPIT Technologies, at the Pune International Business Summit organised by the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture.
Today, the country’s automotive industry is “a follower and not a leader”, with 70% of the sector dependent on foreign technology. But this will change, and 80% of the automotive industry will become Indian, he said.
The only concern is energy, with India’s needs rising 3x in the next 25 years, he said. The country is unlikely to achieve the target of 20 GW of renewable energy by 2026, with current capacity less than 11 GW. For this, the country needs to stop relying on imports from China.
While EVs are the flavour of the day, Kalyani said he did not see ICE engines dying and 100% of the world going electric.
Bharat Forge is targeting to bring in ‘lights-out manufacturing’ at its Pune plant by 2026. This would mean a fully automated production system. “We can’t run tomorrow’s factory unless you make it fully digital,” he said.