New Year, New Hopes

The year 2016 has been satisfying for the industry. However, the industry is optimistic about the time to come and ready embrace GST.

- Swati Deshpande

After the sluggish business environment faced in the previous year, the industry seems to be satisfied with its performance in 2016. Speak-ing on the same Tarang Jain, Managing Director, Varroc Group says, “2016 was a turning point for the Indian automotive industry as we saw signs of a sustainable revival in demand for the first time in five years.” Seconding the same, D C Sharma, Group Chief Financial Officer, Minda Corporation says, “I am quite pleased to say that we exceeded our internal business targets, both in terms of the operational and financial performance. For six month ending September 2016, the consolidated topline grew by 29.1 perecent y-o-y to Rs. 1,477 crore and our operating profit expanded by 29.2 percent y-o-y to Rs. 147 crore. This growth was broad based across all the business divisions, including wiring harness, safety and security business and after-market.”

Racold Thermo as well registered a double digit growth in the year. Speaking on the same, Anil Bhamre, Head- Marketing, Racold Thermo notes, “The year 2016 was full of challenging opportunities for us. Our industry is still at a very nascent stage in terms of penetration compared to other consumer durable goods. We continue to focus on innovation, people, distribution, reach and consumer insights which have helped us at a double digit growth in 2016.”