India's Auto Industry Aims for Global No:1 Position by 2030, Says Gadkari

The Union minister Nitin Gadkari said the government's target is to get India's automobile industry to the number one position in the world in five years. Addressing the launch of a report by The Express Industry Council of India (EICI) and KPMG, Gadkari spoke to the constant rise of the industry and emphasized its contribution to India's economic aspirations. 

"When I took charge in 2014, India's automobile industry was ₹7.5 lakh crore in size. Today, it is ₹22 lakh crore, and I want to make it the largest in the world in five years," said Gadkari. "The auto industry in the US is currently valued at ₹78 lakh crore, while China is at ₹47 lakh crore, with India at third. 

Gadkari also emphasized Prime Minister Modi’s vision of taking India from the world’s 5th largest economy to the 3rd largest economy, which will be driven largely by logistics and mobility opportunities.

For example, India’s logistics costs, until recently at about 16% of GDP, have been reduced to 10% as a result of having made significant investments in expressways and economic corridors. “We will bring logistics costs into single digits soon,” Gadkari remarked.

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The EICI-KPMG report Powering India’s Economy, Connecting Business and Markets emphasized the express industry’s important contribution. It currently generates USD 1-1.5 billion in GST and USD 650 million in customs revenue annually. The sector, valued at USD 9 billion for FY25, is expected to approximately double to USD 18-22 billion by 2030, generating between 6.5-7.5 million new jobs in the process.

The report also pointed out that domestic express services account for 70% of the market, making it the largest sector, and that international express services handled nearly 20 million shipments in FY24.