The automobile demand in the Indian market is surely touching new heights by the day and coupled with the low-cost factor, which has persuaded many companies to make the country their export hub has even contributed to make the country the seventh largest vehicle producing country in the world.

Secretary for Ministry of Heavy Industry B S Meena said here at a Ficci function that when the Automotive Mission plan was being drafted, the government projected the automobile industry to reach the seventh position by 2016 but it has achieved it six years before the targeted time frame. In fact, Meena also said that he expects the country to be in the top five by the year 2020.

It is to be mentioned here that as of now, China is the largest vehicle producer of the world followed by the US. For the uninitiated, the AMP 2016 aims at clocking the automotive sector's turnover to USD 145 billion in 2016 and providing employment to 25 million people within 10 years.

It may be noted here that the turnover of the sector stood at USD 34 billion in 2005-06 while it was employing 13.1 million people either directly or indirectly.