These issues were also taken up with the previous Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Major General B C Khanduri who was FADA's Chief Guest at the Auto Summit 2004.

Auto summit 2004

Encouraged by the success of Auto Summit 2000 and Auto Summit 2002, FADA organised its 3rd All-India Convention of Automobile Dealers - Auto Summit 2004 on 16th & 17th January 2004 at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi, coinciding with Auto Expo.

In his address as the Chief Guest at the Inaugural Session, Major General B C Khanduri, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways highlighted the massive road infrastructure development undertaken by the Government, which he said, would lead to all - round growth.

Mr Jagdish Khattar, President SIAM and MD, Maruti Udyog, in his keynote address underlined the importance of automotive industry in terms of its weightage in GDP; its contribution to the Central & State kitties by way of various forms of revenue; and its far - reaching backward and forward linkages; and its potential for employment generation and as a spearhead of modernisation & growth of other sectors. He summed up the theme of Summit "Consolidating Relationship" as "Travailing together on the path of opportunity, on the path growth and on the path of global recognition".

Mr R Gopalakrishna, Executive Director, Tata Sons Ltd exhorted the players in automotive business chain not to be complacent and be always prepared to cope with downturn. He said that straight line is not that common pattern but an exception. He advised automobile dealers to look beyond business and pay equal attention to their social obligations.

Mr R Seshasayee, MD, Ashok Leyland, said that challenges of liberalisation and globalisation, coupled with cyclic boom and busts, had been a blessing in disguise and resulted in the change of mood and mindset of Indian industry so much so that the Indian Industry had started feeling that it could conquer the world. An important issue raised by Mr Seshasayee was that dealers must look beyond domestic territories and attempt at setting up dealership abroad.

Mr R C Bhargava, Director, Maruti Udyog and CEO, RCB Consulting - a consulting firm, speaking at the Concluding Session painted a rosy picture of the road ahead. He said that good monsoon; falling interest rates leading to cheaper finance availability; continuation of reform process, albeit at a slow pace; and improvement in international relations, including relations with Pakistan, which had given confidence to foreign investors, were some of the main factors driving growth.

Ms Rama Bijapurkar, a Market Strategy Consultant at the Business Session II on "Consolidate for Competitiveness" noted that, with road connectivity increasing by leaps and bounds, growing commercial activities, rising income & aspiration levels and public transport system being as poor as ever, the demand for some time.

Other eminent speakers at the Summit included: Mr. Aditya Vij, President & MD, General Motor India; Dr V Sumantran, Executive Director, Tata Motor; Dr Amit Mitra, an economist and Secretary General, FICCI; Mr Lalit Suri, MP and President, Hotel Association of India; Dr Mohan Agrarwal, Management Professor, California polytechnic State University; Mr V Vaidyanathan, Sr General Manager & Head Retail Group, ICICI Bank; Mr Naveen Kshatriya, MD, Castrol India; and Mr Gurmukh Singh, Management Consultant.

As a precursor to the Auto Summit, FADA organised an Interactive Session on Dealer - Manufacturer Partnership a day earlier on 16th January 2004, which was moderated and chaired by Mr Madhur Bajaj, Vice President, SIAM and Vice Chairman, Bajaj Auto Ltd. Other representatives of manufactures at this Interactive Session were: Mr K Saito, Director (Marketing & Sales), Maruti Udyog; Mr Ramesh Adige, Director, Fiat India; Mr Rajeev Chaba, COO, General Motor India; Mr Vinay Piparsania, Vice President (External Affairs), Ford India - representing 4 - wheeler segment; and Ms Sulajja Firodia Motwani, Jt Managing Director, Yamaha Motor India; Mr Deepak Mokashi, General Manager (Sales) - representing 2 - wheeler segment. Mr Murad Ali Baig and Mr Adil Jal Darukhanawala, both eminent auto journalists and analysts represented the media. The interaction was quite lively and helped in clarifying various queries raised by the automobile dealers.

The Summit was a grand success in that around 800 participants from across the country, comprising representatives of automobile dealerships, industry and others connected with automobile business, had quite an educative and enriching experience thought interaction with a wide spectrum of speakers spanning over two days.

The grand finale of the summit was the Cultural Evening with music & dance performance by the troupe of Krishna Kumar Kunatha, popularly known as "KK", famous playback singer, who has lent his voice to some of the leading actors in musical hits of the decade, such as, Maachis. Devdas Road, Humraaz, Dil Chahta Hai, etc.

In a run - up Auto Summit, FADA, had also organised a Seminar on "Hazards of Night Driving" on 14th January 2004, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, in co-operation with Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), Central Road Research Institute (CRRI) and Delhi Traffic Police. The distinguished speakers at Seminar included Mr Qamar Ahmed, Jt Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Delhi; Prof P K Sikdar, Director, CRRi; and Mr Rohit Baluja, president, IRTE.

Representations to the Government Authorities

FADA submitted a number of representations on various issues of concern to trade, including service tax, registration procedure, sales tax, excise, customer and other taxes & levies impeding growth of Automobile Business. These issues were also highlighted at the Regional Meetings and Open House Sessions where Government authorities were present and also through media.

FADA submitted a pre - Budget Memorandum to the Finance Ministry, Government o India, seeking, among other thing s rationalisation of taxes on motor vehicles, resolution of the issue of service tax on amount received from banks and finance companies, improvement in road and parking infrastructure and simplification of registration procedures.

Service tax, being an issue of serious concern, having not been addressed in the Union Budget 2004, was also taken up in the post - Budget Memorandum.

Major Initiatives

FADA signed an agreement with ICICI Bank for introduction of a Co- branded ICICI Bank - JADA Credit Card for FADA members. The card, in addition to offering host of benefits to FADA members, will help enhance the brand equity of FADA and its Members.

B2B Section in FADA Website for FADA members to transact of excess / obsolete spare part inventory through the website and there by, recover part of the capital blocked in excess inventory and to put the money back to productive use.

Dealer viability continued to be on the top of FADA's agenda. FADA engaged a consultant to conduct systems audit of select dealerships in north India, to start with, in order to identify the shortcomings in their operations. A similar study will be carried out in other regions subsequently.

FADA has earmarked substantial funds for development of retail automobile trade.

A sum of Rs. 15 lakh has also been set aside for a building in the future. It is proposed to acquire a plot of land in an institutional area and build a FADA office, with provisions for auditorium, conference rooms and guest house. The application for allotment of institutional land will be submitted shortly

FADA’s publications

i. FADA Journal

Monthly publication "FADA Journal" continued to grow in terms of quality, content, popularity and circulation. The Journal received rave reviews from various quarters for its coverage, presentation and content.

ii. Other publication

Three publications on: 1. Effective After Sales Service - Sure Ways to Profitability; 2. Consumer Law & Automobiles; and 3. Customer Relationship, brought out previous year continued to receive stupendous response from members and non-members, including manufacturers, who found these publications quite useful.

Encouraged by the overwhelming response to the earlier publications, FADA is working to bring out more found these publications on topics of interest to Automobile Dealers.

Media Coverage

As in the previous year, public / media relations continued to be high on FADA's agenda. Press Meets were organised at Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Chandigarh and Hyderabad during the year with a view to highlighting issues and problems confronting automobile trade and presenting them in proper perspective to the Government, public and other concerned, through media. Wide media coverage of FADA's activities and concerns bespeaks of FADA's growing recognition as the Voice of Dealer.

Changes made in FADA Constitution of FADA including change of Registered Office

The changes made in the memorandum and articles of Associated of FADA were approved by the Central Government and the changes given effect from 1st September 2003, except in the case of change of registered office from Mumbai to Delhi.

For confirmation of change of registered office, a petition was filed with the Company Law Board, Western Region Bench at Mumbai under section 17(2) of the Companies Act, 1956. The Company Law Board has since delivered order Confirming the change of registered office. The formal order is awaited.

Membership

FADA's membership strength as the end of Council Meeting held on 18th July 2004 stood as under:

Founder Members	4
Ordinary Association Members	16
	20

 
Other Members i.e. Associated Members/Life Members/Supporting Members

Region	Associate Members	Life Members	Supporting Members	Total
East	176	34	2	212
North	289	38	3	330
South	212	34	11	257
West	334	41	15	390
Foreign	1	-	-	1
Total	1012	147	31	1190

FADA Secretariat

Secretariat of FADA continued to function from its office premises located at 805, Surya Kiran, 19 K G Marg, New Delhi - 110 001. Secretariat is being further strengthened with a view to providing more services of substance to the members in an efficient and prompt manner. Council places on record its appreciation of the able support extended by FADA Secretariat for its activities during the year.