New Delhi, May 21 (IANS). Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday said Indian companies need to enter into joint ventures with American companies to gain access to the latest technologies.
Addressing the annual Leadership Summit of the American Chamber of Commerce, Gadkari said, “India is the fastest growing large economy in the world, while American companies are developing new technologies. In such a situation, it is very important for Indian companies to do joint ventures with American companies.”
He said the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is also considering consulting American companies in preparing the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of highway projects.
Gadkari said supply chain is the most important part of logistics and due to the rapid expansion of expressways and economic corridors, logistics costs in India have now reached single digits.
He said that according to the latest study prepared by IIT Chennai, IIT Kanpur and IIM Bangalore, India’s logistics cost has reduced from 16 percent to 10 percent due to the construction of expressways and economic corridors.
He said that logistics cost in America and European countries is 12 percent, while in China it is between 8 to 10 percent.
Gadkari also said that the government is aiming to make India’s automobile industry number-1 in the world in the next five years.
“When I took over as Transport Minister, the size of the Indian automobile industry was Rs 14 lakh crore. Now it has increased to Rs 22 lakh crore,” he said.
The minister said that the automobile sector provides employment to about 4 lakh youth and the Center and the states also receive maximum GST from this sector. At present America’s automobile industry is worth Rs 78 lakh crore, while China’s industry is worth Rs 47 lakh crore.
Gadkari said India’s dependence on fossil fuels has become an economic burden, as Rs 22 lakh crore is spent every year on fuel imports. Besides, it is also a threat to the environment. Therefore, it is important to adopt clean energy for the development of the country.
He said that to reduce vehicular pollution, the government has identified 10 highway corridors in different parts of the country, where trucks running on green hydrogen will be operated.
These routes include Greater Noida-Delhi-Agra, Bhubaneswar-Puri-Konark, Ahmedabad-Vadodara-Surat, Sahibabad-Faridabad-Delhi, Jamshedpur-Kalinganagar, Thiruvananthapuram-Kochi and Jamnagar-Ahmedabad highways.
It is noteworthy that the American Chamber of Commerce includes more than 400 American companies and individual and honorary members. The current US Ambassador to India is the honorary president of this organization.
–IANS
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