Call of duty: Maruti Suzuki chairman advocates for low car tariffs in FTAs

The govt and Maruti believe the Indian car industry is no longer an infant and can face low-duty imports through FTAs, but not everyone is sure

R C Bhargava, chairman of India’s largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki, is no stranger to making contrarian calls. And he has done it once again.
 

“Indian car companies are already globally competitive, with even cheaper cost of production. So there is no reason to impose high tariff barriers, or a quota system for cars that would be eligible for preferential tariff to protect the industry from the UK’s or Europe’s carmakers. We are not competing with China,” Bhargava told Business Standard.
 

With this, Bhargava breaks ranks with many in the Indian car industry, but shows alignment with the government, which is