Road Transport Industry Hard hit by excessive taxation levies and lack of co-ordinated policies

Hard hit by excessive taxation|levies and lack of co-ordinated policies What is needed is higher allocation of resources; incentives for investment; lower taxation and levies; adequate credit to State Transport Undertakings and private operators Speech by Mr R j Snananey, Chairman Ashok Leyland Limited at the Thirty-fourth Annual General Meeting on April 28, 1983 Review of operations The travails faced by the com- mercial vehicles industry, during 1982, are now common knowledge. The credit restrictions imposed by the Reserve Bank of India which affected the offtake of vehicles by the transport operator, the precipitous fall in offtake from State Transport Undertakings, due to funding constraints; and the subsequent decline in demand for both vehicles and parts, consequent to a general slow-down in the economy, all combined to pose the toughest challenge that the Company has encountered in recent history. That these developments occurred at a time when your Company was gear- ing itself to a significant increase in capacity and production, made the situation particularly painful The accumulation of finished vehicle inventory, necessitated restricted assembly activities at the Ennore Plant from August 1982 to about 50% of capacity in order to avoid a continuing liquidity problem.