As the new president of NADA, what are your immediate priorities?
We have a lot to do achieve. NADA needs to effect some changes both within the organization and in the market. Internally, NADA needs to rewrite its constitution in order to cope with the changing demands of time. We need to make our secretariat stronger in order to add more value to our customers´ hard-earned money, and to expand the horizon of the business. And, we also need to expand the organization. For this, we are trying to explore ways through which regional participation in the organization can be increased.
Externally, the first priority of NADA is to highlight the problems faced by the automobile sector. Another area that we are going to focus on this year is road safety. For this all of the stakeholders (traffic police, the Department of Road Management (DoTM), automobile dealers and owners) need to come forward and explore the ways in which road safety can be enhanced.
What are your plans to push these agendas?
We have a good and dedicated team, which, I believe will work push these agendas. Similarly, NADA Auto Show which is scheduled before the Dashain is one of our greatest programs. I believe that the show will also be a medium through which problems and queries regarding the automobile sector can be addressed.
What are the major challenges confronting the automobile industry?
The topmost challenge that the industry is witnessing is high excise and custom duties. I always felt that the automobile sector constitutes a major part of revenue collected by the government. We do not mean that the revenue should be decreased; it should rather be increased. But, if vehicles are made affordable to the upper middle class and lower middle class, not only the revenue increases, it will also speed up development activities of the country. At present around 30 percent of the revenue generated by the government is through the automobile sector.
How flexible did you find the budget for this fiscal year for the automobile industry?
Unfortunately, this budget, much like the previous ones, has failed to address our problems. Though we have been continuously pleading the government to reduce the tax on automobiles, the budget has again earmarked a new excise duty on the spare parts. The increment will destroy the automobile market which is slowly gaining momentum. NADA is planning to make a stronger case with the government in this regard.
Nonetheless, the rate of automobile registration increased significantly in the previous fiscal year. What is your take?
Though the registration has been increasing, the market has been cooling down for the last two months. I don´t think that the growth will be sustainable until the automobiles are made more accessible to the middle class people.
Related story
Government Expands Excise Duty Coverage
