If you thought tyres were the only problem that the automakers were busy dealing with, you better give it a second thought as the process have stepped up some ladders. Indian auto majors are now facing difficulties in sourcing vital parts like alloy wheels, machined component and some other important engine parts resulting in shortage of supply of the final products.

The issue also deepens when we move across to the cost structures, as against in the slowdown blues when the overall sentiment was low, neither the automakers nor the vendors were thinking of hiking prices.

But since the automakers are filing record sales month after month, the component majors have now started to push them to increase price due to rising input costs, and as expected automakers are not game for it. Dealing with the shortages, the auto majors are currently sourcing components from low-cost destinations like China and Thailand.

However, the solution may not work for long-term if the duties on component imports are hiked hence reaching an agreement with the component majors is perhaps the only practical solution to get over with the supply constraints.