The doors of the government are open to the stakeholders in the automotive industry—with the government ready to address concerns—and it will help the industry with whatever is needed from the government to make India the largest automobile industry in the world, Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, said on Friday.

“Our vision is very broad and ambitious, and I’m confident that with the cooperation of the industry, we will be able to achieve the goal of making India the largest automobile industry in the world. For that, we need cooperation, coordination, and communication from you people,” Gadkari said at the 65th Annual Session of the Automotive Components Manufacturer Association (ACMA) in New Delhi.

On the safety of automobiles, Gadkari said that the biggest reason behind road accidents in India is human behaviour. “There is no respect for the law, and there is no fear for the law. We are running ad campaigns with celebrities like Amitabh Bachchan, Prasoon Joshi, and Shankar Mahadevan. We have included road safety in the syllabus. The education minister has accepted the proposal,” he said. 

Gadkari also highlighted that in case anyone is involved in an accident, the ministry will bear expenses for a week’s worth of treatment, and will award the good Samaritans ₹25,000. He, however, exhorted the congregation for help and cooperation, since it is a societal problem. “It’s the only black spot of my tenure as a minister, where we have not been able to achieve as much success as we wanted to,” he said.

On the scrapping front, Gadkari stated that up to August, three lakh vehicles had been scrapped, with 1.41 lakh of these being government vehicles. The rest of the vehicles were end-of-life vehicles. “The balance vehicles which we need to scrap are 97.04 lakh, which are ready now. We need to have cooperation from all stakeholders, especially the consumers.”

The minister also highlighted that the present scrapping rate per month is 16,830 vehicles. Investment by private firms is ₹2,700 crore. Sixty lakh tonnes of steel imports are required. “Recovery from steel is 3.76 lakh tonnes. ₹40,000 crore will go to the central and state coffers as GST if all the vehicles are scrapped. 70 lakh jobs will be created.”

The recovered raw materials will include lead, aluminium, platinum, and palladium, which will reduce imports and bring down the cost of automotive components by 25%. “I’m requesting the OEMs to offer a 5% discount whenever someone comes with a scrapping certificate. It will benefit them. It’s not charity, because it will drive demand,” he said, adding that the current rate of scrapping of 22% can reach between 35% and 40%.