India may Set up Dedicated Auto Component Parks for US Firms, Goyal Says

India could build dedicated industrial parks for auto component makers, including sites reserved for a partnership with the United States, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday.

Addressing the Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India's 66th annual session in New Delhi, Goyal said the government was expanding its plug-and-play industrial park programme and could set aside sites specifically for the sector. "We are now looking at 100 more industrial smart cities with plug and play infrastructure across the length and breadth of India under the BHAVYA scheme," he said, referring to the federal scheme the cabinet approved in March to build 100 such parks nationwide at a cost of 33,660 crore rupees, or roughly $3.5 billion.

Goyal proposed that at least one site be earmarked for the United States and suggested as many as five parks could be reserved solely for auto components. "I can create the plug and play infrastructure to suit you directly," he added.

He spoke shortly after US Ambassador to India Sergio Gor addressed the same gathering, urging Indian component makers to expand their operations into the United States.

Gor invited ACMA members to the SelectUSA Investment Summit near Washington in May, saying, "My SelectUSA team at the embassy is ready to assist you every step of the way."

Separately, Goyal said India had signed nine trade agreements in the past four and a half years, opening duty-free access to markets with a combined gross domestic product of $60 trillion, against $10 trillion in access from all pacts signed before 2014. He set a $500 billion turnover target for the auto component industry without giving a deadline.