Auto Summit Shows the Way Forward S P Shah, President Dear friends, It gives me a pleasure and a sense of satisfaction to inform that FADA's 6th Auto Summit was a fulfilling experience and lived up to what it promised. The Summit was a tremendous success - be it the participation, the stature of speakers, the quality of deliberations, the impeccable arrangements or the grandeur. The fact that the Summit had a wide spectrum of participants representing the Government, the industry, the allied businesses, renowned consulting firms and my fellow dealers from across the country and other parts of globe goes on to show the importance of auto retail in the entire value chain. The Auto Summit has come to represent and is the reflection of FADA's endeavours to forge partnerships and work together with all stakeholders for sustained growth of automotive business as a whole. What is heartening was the presence of our fellow dealers from USA, Russia and Brazil that are major auto markets in the world. With the increasing globalisation, India or, for that matter, any other country cannot remain isolated from the developments elsewhere in the world as the collapse of Lehman last year showed. The ramifications of financial meltdown in USA were found across the world, including India. The important lesson learnt is that we cannot operate in vacuum and have to guard against external factors as well. Therefore, the presence of our fellow dealers from USA, Russia and Brazil was timely and appropriate, providing us an opportunity to learn from their experiences. We were honoured to have in our midst Chairman of National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), USA and President of Russian Association of Automobile Dealers, who came all the way to address and interact with the participants at the Summit. This is a testimony to the fact that India is emerging as an automotive powerhouse and an important market, which is arousing worldwide attention. Thanks to FADA's efforts to establish relations with auto retail organisations worldwide, we have built and deepened our relations with NADA, Russian Association of Automobile Dealers, Retail Motor Industries Federation (RMIF) and other retail trade organisations across the globe. The Auto Summit acted as a catalyst in further strengthening our international relations. The Auto Summit 2010 was unique in more than one way. For the first time, we had six concurrent group discussions on fundamental, bread & butter issues of dealership management, essentially on how to increase efficiency, productivity and revenues by introducing and improving the systems & policies and tapping new business opportunities. The topics chosen after much deliberation among our dealer friends, included: Used Vehicle Sales; Dealership Management Information Systems (MIS); Increasing Revenues from Retail Channel Partners; Increasing Revenue from Workshop; Manpower Planning & HRD; and Internet as a Marketing Tool. Needless to mention, used vehicle business has been growing phenomenally at 30% and brings in far better returns than new vehicle sales, in addition to increasing new vehicle sales as well as retaining existing customers and bringing in new customers. Similarly, importance of after-sales service, manpower planning, tie-ups with retail channel partners, dealership reporting systems and Internet in today's context needs no overemphasis. These workshops witnessed overwhelming participation and exceeded our expectations. I am sure, my fellow dealers would have gained a lot from their participation at these group discussions. Another unique feature of the Auto Summit programme was presentation of awards to automobile dealers, who were adjudged by an independent jury of eminent persons on various parameters of dealership management, as the best from amongst a large number of nominations received for various categories of awards. As you are aware, these Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards have been instituted by Auto Monitor jointly with FADA and will be an annual feature. My heartiest compliments to my fellow dealers who emerged winners. I hope, my fellow dealers who did not send in their nominations this time will stand up and be counted when the awards for the next year are announced. The thrust of deliberations at the Summit was that India was poised to grow bigger and that the auto sector would playa pivotal role in this growth. With the growth of auto market, automobile dealers have to take suitable steps to stand up to the challenges of manpower, expanding inventory, access to finance, complexities of technology, growing concerns for environment and safety and intense competition in the market place. I wish to thank our distinguished speakers, namely Mr Kamal Nath, Hon'ble Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India; Mr Pawan Munjal, MD, Hero Honda; Dr Pawan Goenka, President, SIAM & President, Mahindra & Mahindra; Mr Karl Slym, President & MD, GM India, Mr Edward Tonkin, Chairman and Mr Albert Gallegos, Director - International Affairs, NADA; Mr Evaldo Costa, President, Brazilian Dealers Institute; Mr Dmitry Gulin, President and Mr Steve Chernysh, Director, Russian Association of Automobile Dealers; Mr S Muralidharan, VP, Bosch Ltd; Mr Ravi Pisharody, President - CVBU, Tata Motors Ltd; Mr Vineet Agarwal, ED, TCI; Mr V Lakshmi Narasimhan, National Business Head, Magma Fincorp; Mr R C Maheshwari, CEO - 3-Wheeler Division, Bajaj Auto; Mr Sohanjeet Randhawa, Volvo India; Mr Rajive Saharia, ED -Mktg, Ashok Leyland; Mr Vijay Kumar, President & Head -Motor Business, Bajaj Allianz; Mr Anil Dua, Sr VP - Mktg & Sales, Hero Honda; Mr Pankaj Dubey, National Business Head, India Yamaha; Mr H S Goindi, President - Mktg, TVS Motor Co.; Mr Shaji Koshy, Head - Sales & Mktg, Royal Enfield; Mr N K Rattan, Operating Head - Sales & Mktg, HMSI; Mr Sanjay Saraswat, GM - Sales & Service Planning, Bajaj Auto; Mr Ajay Budki, National Sales Head, Honda Siel Cars India; Mr Neeraj Garg, Director, Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Mr Arun Malhotra, Sr VP, Mahindra & Mahindra; Mr Arvind Saxena, Director - Mktg & Sales, Hyundai Motor India; Mr R Haresh, Joint MD, TV Sundram Iyengar & Sons; Mr Anil Sainani, Director, S & S Empowering Solutions; Mr Amitava Roy, GM - Sales Support, Maruti Suzuki; Mr Kapil Arora, Partner, Ernst & Young; Mr Manish Jar, Managing Partner & CEO, Idea? Sewells; Mr Sharath Vijayaraghavan, ED, Sundaram Motors; Mr Mohan Himatsingka, Maurya Motors; Mr Prafulla Kumar Kale, Jaika Motors; Mr Pankaj Narula, Executive Officer - After-Sales Service, Maruti Suzuki; Mr Prince Augustin, Executive VP -Human Capital, Mahindra & Mahindra; Mr Mukesh Kalmadi, Joint MD, Sai Service Station; Mr Pankaj Patel, CEO, Carazoo; Mr R Sarvanakumar, Castrollndia; Mr R Kannan, IFFCO-Tokio; Mr R Balaji, Mahindra Finance; Mr Anindya Dhar, Magma Fincorp; Mr I S Phukela, The New India Assurance; and Mr Bisheshwar Singh, Universal Sompo General Insurance, who spared their valuable time to participate at the Auto Summit to give us the benefit of their vision, wise counsel and experiences. I am indebted to all our sponsors without whom it would not have been possible for us to organise the Auto Summit on such a grand scale. My sincere thanks and gratitude to Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Bosch, HDFC Bank, Hyundai Motor India, Kotak Mahindra Prime, Magma Fincorp, Mahindra & Mahindra, Mahindra Finance, Maruti Suzuki India, The New India Assurance, Bajaj Allianz, Carazoo, Castrollndia, Honda Siel Cars India, AkzoNobel, Gulf Oil, IFFCO-Tokio, National Insurance, Royal Sundaram, Sundaram Finance, United India Insurance and Universal Sompo for their kind support. My grateful thanks to SIAM for its association with the Summit as our partner. I am grateful to Dr Brijmohan Lall, Mr Madhur Bajaj, Mr Liam Donnelly, Mr Rajesh Mokashi and other distinguished guests who made it convenient to grace the Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards ceremony. I am also thankful to the team of Auto Monitor, especially Mr Deepangshu Sarmah and Mr Sudhanva Jategoankar for their untiring efforts and hard work in giving shape to the Automotive Dealership Excellence Awards culminating in a gala awards presentation function. I acknowledge with thanks the invaluable time and contribution of our jury for the awards. My sincere thanks and gratitude to CNBC TV18 and Mr Senthil Chengalvarayan, in particular, for associating with the ADEA and its coverage in CNBC. Above all, my profound thanks and appreciation for all the hard work put in by Mr Rakesh Jain, Chairman, Auto Summit to put in place the entire programme, logistics and excellent arrangements to make the 6th Auto Summit 2010 a huge success. I wish to thank Mr Gulshan Ahuja, Secretary General and FADA Secretariat for pitching in with their whole-hearted support. My gratitude is also due to our past presidents and my colleagues in FADA Council, especially Mr Bharat Sanghvi, Mr Vinay Nevatia, Mr Nikunj Sanghi, Mr Jayendra Kachalia, Mr Binod Agarwal, Mr Ramesh Suri, Mr K P Jhunjhunwala, Mr Kailash Gupta, Mr Deshnidhi Kasliwal, Mr Prem Bagga, Mr Sundeep Bafna, Mr Rajesh Sanei, Mr Sharath Vijayaraghavan, Mr K V S Prakash Rao and Mr Pradip Kamdar, who extended their unstinted support. Last and not the least, I acknowledge with thanks the support of members of automobile dealer fraternity from across the country for their participation in a big way. With best wishes, Yours sincerely, S P Shah