Ford India believes the growth shown by the Indian automobile industry is relentless. At a panel discussion on Tuesday by the Rotary Club of Chennai and the Chennai Business School on “Challenges and Opportunities of Doing Business in India,” Ford India’s Executive Director of Marketing, Sales & Service, Nigel Wark said, “The Indian automobile industry has grown 40 per cent this year over last year. It has a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 per cent over a 10-year period. During the recession when our European markets were drying up and Indian banks had more or less stopped giving loans because there were no takers for loans… in that period, though Indians stopped taking loans, car sales did not reduce. I wonder whether they kept the money hidden under the mattress,” he quipped.
Wark said Tamil Nadu in particular offered many things that a foreign investor dreams of - excellent workforce, infrastructure, supply base, capability, investment potential in the area and the willingness of the government to support investors. “I think Chennai is India’s best kept secret,” he grinned.
Echoing his sentiments was Mike Nithavrianakis, British Deputy High Commissioner to South India. “I always tell British businessmen that India is a land of enormous opportunity and their best bet is to find a local partner in India who can help cut through the bureaucracy and the red tape,” he said.
India’s desperate need of the hour was to improve infrastructure and fast. He quoted a McKenzie report titled “India in 2030” which said that in 20 years, 40 per cent of the country’s population will live in cities. Currently 30 per cent of the population lives in the cities.
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