Japan Crisis: A challenge for Indian Car-makers

Indian car-makers now facing shortage of components after tsunami in Japan.

Faced with surging raw material costs, Indian car-makers now face three additional serious challenges, including a shortage of key components, which could impact their performance this year. While they could pass on the burden of increased input costs to customers, a shortage of components, compounded by the March 11 tsunami and quake in Japan and the Reserve Bank's latest rate hike -- which could affect car financing -- have made them jittery over their prospects in the short-to-medium term. "Yes, the industry is facing problems, but we are taking it as a big challenge. We think this is a passing phase -- we see light at the end of tunnel," General Motors India Vice-President P Balendran told PTI here.