FADA hosts symposium in Bangalore, looks to bolster growth in auto retail

At Panel 1: Auto dealership 2.0 L to R: Manish Raj Singhania, Honorary secretary, F A D A (Moderator); Shalu Jhunjhunwala, Industry head - Auto, Google India; Rakesh Arora, President and National sales head - vehicle loan, Yes Bank; and Arindam Lahiri, CEO, Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC)

The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (F A D A) recently organised a State-level conference ‘Vyapar Karnataka’ in Bangalore. It saw the participation of over 150 established businesspersons and entrepreneurs, who own and operate automotive retail business for passenger, two-wheelers and commercial vehicle manufacturers.

In his welcome address, Dr M P Shyam, chairman, FADA Karnataka said, “Vyapar Karnataka was the first-of-its-kind symposium that had been held in Bangalore in the past 15 years.” Appraising the gathering about the Karnataka auto retail industry, he said the industry provides direct employment to 300,000 people and contributes around Rs 8,000 crore to the exchequer in taxes.

At Panel 2: VAHAN 4.0 L to R: Naveen Sarawgi, CEO, Bimal Auto Agency; MP Omkareshwari, Joint commissioner for transport, environment and e-governance, Bengaluru; Krishna Bhat, senior technical director, NIC, Bengaluru and V V Gowri Shankar, principal analyst, NIC, Bengaluru

“The changes that are sweeping the industry are like the fourth industrial revolution taking place. Hence, having discussion and dialogues among dealers is important as such interactions will open the way to new opportunities,” added Dr Shyam.

Ajith Mohan Karimpana, founder and CEO, Furlenco

The event saw participation from Ashish Harsharaj Kale, president, FADA; Manish Raj Singhania, honorary secretary, FADA:  Nikunj Sanghi, past-president, FADA and chairman, ASDC, and Vinkesh Gulati, vice-president, FADA.

Panel discussions, dealer engagement
The event held on February 8, 2019, saw industry leaders share their views during two panel discussions around ‘Auto Dealership 2.0’ and ‘Vahan 4.0’. Speaking at the event, Ashish H Kale said, “We believe that Karnataka has immense growth potential for the automotive retail business. The coming times will see a tsunami of changes and the dynamics of business are set to change."

P C Musthafa, CEO and co-founder, iD Fresh Food
The panel discussion on Auto Dealership 2.0 saw Shalu Jhunjhunwala from Google, Arindam Lahiri from ASDC and Rakesh Arora from Yes Bank share their views on how the dealership environment is set to change. As Vahan is being implemented in the state, RTO and NIC officials apprised dealers how the new system will work and also answered many dealer issues.

Annadurai, Chennai auto driver

The day-long event saw business achievers like Ajith Mohan Karimpana and P C Mustafa present their case studies on the food and furniture rental sector which made the dealers learn best practices from other industries. Annadurai, an autorickshaw operator from Chennai, revealed some top tips on how to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction.

L to R: Nikunj Sanghi, former president, FADA and chairman, ASDC; Ashish Harsharaj Kale, president, FADA; Samar Vikram Bhasin, CEO, Pratham motors and Premanand Shenoy, MD, Prerna Motors

For the first time, Vyapar Karnataka also witnessed open house discussions between two-wheeler, passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle dealers on day-to-day operational problems they faced with FADA and KADA office bearers.

With the overall theme being ‘Collaborate, Accelerate and Celebrate’, the event was aimed at making FADA a one-stop destination for every automobile dealer for issues pertaining to the automobile retail industry. FADA says it intends to address the challenges of the key stakeholders with the aim to keep up the positive momentum in the automobile industry.