The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Southern Region is organising Auto Serve 2008, India's focused exhibition on automotive care, maintenance, service, parts & garage equipments between 7 and 9 November 2008 at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai.

Addressing a press conference here today, Mr R Dinesh, Chairman, Auto Serve 2008 & Joint Managing Director, T V Sundram Iyengar & Sons Ltd, said that the Indian automobile industry embarked on a new journey since 1991 with delicensing of the sector and subsequent opening up for 100% FDI through automatic route.

Mr Dinesh said that the total market size of the automotive aftermarket industry is estimated at Rs.50,000 crore in the passenger car segment, including used cars.  Out of this, aftermarket services alone has the potential to generate revenue worth Rs.15,000 crore in the passenger car. If combined with commercial vehicle segment, it would exceed Rs 28,000 crore, he said.

Mr Dinesh announced that coinciding with Auto Serve 2008, CII in association with KPMG will do a study on "Skill Gap Analysis on Employment Generation in Automotive Aftermarket".   The study will present a detailed analysis on various issues with regard to skills training, human resource requirement for various trades in the aftermarket industry and the shortfall. He said that there was an acute shortage of skilled manpower in the aftermarket industry, fueled by the emergence of new vehicle technologies, more organised service networks, recent trends on fleet operations in non commercial vehicle operators, etc.

Auto Serve 2008 will include a 3-day educative, interactive and demonstrative exhibition and one-day industry conference on "Trends in automotive service - profitability through safety and maintenance". The conference will have sessions focused on the CEO's perspective on Automotive Service, Database protection, safety, maintenance, insurance and Collision repair.  In addition, educational sessions on automotive maintenance and care for the trade visitors and live technology demo for vehicle testing, servicing, repairs, etc for buyers will be organised. The event will also have displays of vintage cars and bikes.

Talking about the automotive aftermarket, he said that with the population of automobiles in India exceeding 100 million and growing at the rate of 12% per annum, the automotive aftermarket business in India is poised for an immense growth.

There are tremendous opportunities in automotive services, maintenance and aftermarket products. He said that the growth factors of the automotive aftermarket include: growth in vehicle sales, vehicle population, replacement parts and aftermarket products; huge demand for vehicle servicing, repairs and maintenance.  This leads to creation of huge employment opportunities in the automotive services sector in skilled and semi-skilled trades, said Mr Dinesh.

He said that considering the immense growth and business opportunity available in the automotive aftermarket industry, CII has repositioned Auto Serve as the  focused event on automotive aftermarket from a being consumer centric event till 2002. He said that Auto Serve 2008 will attract over 100 exhibitors and showcase latest technology / solutions in garage and service equipment, mechanical handling & testing equipments, diagnostic instrumentation, collision & repair equipments, pollution control equipments, other garage equipments, garage tools, components and spare parts, vehicle care products and accessories, automotive services, tyres & tubes, batteries, fuels and lubricants, finance and insurance and logistics, IT & software products, among others.

Auto Serve 2008 is expected to attract over 15,000 trade and business visitors including service heads of automotive companies, automotive vehicle dealers, corporate, private fleet operators, large fleet operators & institutional buyers, dealers of automotive products like tyre, lubricants, spare parts, components, accessories, batteries, mechanics, workshop & garage owners and garage operators, owners and managers of service stations, petrol station owners, tyre retreaters, state transport maintenance departments from southern states, transportation & logistics companies, truck owners, truck operators and bus operators and consumers.

Auto Serve 2008 will showcase the latest technology and trends. It will help visitors understand the consumer needs and expectations; highlight the potential on usage of genuine products and services; provide networking opportunities to create new markets; enhance the brand awareness and the reach of new products and educate consumers on safety and maintenance.

The event will help visitors understand and evaluate new products and suppliers, keep abreast of industry and market developments, network and develop business contacts, strengthen business relationships, solve specific problems, obtain technical knowledge, discuss business needs in a neutral environment, see live product demonstration, interact face-to-face with industry, compare the competition and gain access to latest technology. The visitors can be aware of vehicle care, servicing, repair & maintenance, collision repair, latest garage, service & workshop equipment & tools on their usage, aftermarket products, their features, applications and usage of genuine spare parts, its benefits, etc.

Courtesy: The Confederation of Indian Industry, India

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Posted by Naresh Koshti on 29 August, 2008 10:12:24 AM IST #