Even though the automobile industry has demonstrated considerable recovery in the last few months, I look forward to consumer and dealer friendly budget announcements which will spur a boost in consumption and supply levels of new and pre-owned cars.

    Measures to reduce interest rates will be a welcome move especially for consumer financing of used cars which remains under-penetrated in India

    Simplifying used car ownership and transfer process by enacting policies to create an intermediary owner will be an ideal solution to boost sales of used vehicles.

    Firm steps should be announced regarding the vehicle scrappage policy and an increase in depreciation rate for vehicles should be extended in order to fuel demand.

    The GST imposed needs to be reduced from the current 28% to less than 18%. This will ensure that cars become much more affordable to new consumers and this will lead to a boost in demand.

I hope the policies announced would be consumer-friendly & any decisions related to introducing the speculative COVID cess would be short term in order to leave more disposable income in the hands of consumers.

By Amit Kumar, CEO OLX Autos India