FADA pushes road safety in India

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Association of India (FADA) is organising an Auto Summit meeting in New Delhi on January 8 and 9 to coincide with the Auto Expo. The summit will be inaugurated by Kamal Nath, the Minister of Transport, while the guest of honour will be Dr Pawan Goenka, president of SIAM.

In a first of its kind initiative FADA has invited members of dealer bodies from other BRIC counties, namely Brazil, Russia and China to attend this meeting. According to S P Shah, president, FADA, “We requested the president of Brazil Automobile Dealers Association, Russian Automobile Dealers Association, and Chairman of National Automobile Dealers Association, to take part in our Auto Summit.”.

He added, “The president of the Chinese Automobile Dealers Association is not in a position to attend this conference but has conveyed his best wishes. This is the first time that dealer bodies from Brazil, Russia and India will participate in a FADA Auto Summit, along with the chairman of NADA, the US dealer body. They will give presentations about the automobile industry in their countries. This is the first time that all of them will be on one platform sharing their experiences.”

During this meeting, the chairman of NADA and President of the Russian Automobile Dealers Association will deliver presentations regarding the scrappage policy introduced in their countries and also explain about the operation of multi- franchise dealerships. According to Shah, “During the recession, these multi-franchise dealerships in the US have proven to be a great success.”

FADA has also made a representation to the government that the current Motor Vehicle Act should be amended to ensure that all cars must have compulsory fitness certificates. Shah explains: "According to the present Motor Vehicle Act, only commercial vehicles are tested and non-transport vehicles do not require tests. The UK has 19,000 test centres; in India we do not have a single test centre for testing non- transport vehicles.”.

The dealer body is also very concerned with the rising number of accidents on Indian roads. In fact the country has the maximum number of road accidents leading to the death of over 100,000 people per year. “FADA is very keen to work out a suitable strategy with automobile manufacturers to reduce accidents and pollution, which are the two biggest problems facing the country,” asserts Shah.

The association is also keen to take suitable initiatives for starting environment-friendly dealerships, which would help dealers save on utility costs. FADA also plans to raise the issue of carbon credits with the government for such dealerships.