Export- Oriented Units-Victims of Liberalisation

February 15, 1986 ment has allowed the automobile industry to expand mindlessly, with seven brands of passenger cars slated for production in the near future. But absorption by the market is certain to fall behind, The Planning Commission had estimated that the demand for cars would increase to 1,45,000 by the end of the Seventh Plan. By 1986-87 alone, production is likely to be 1,30,000, and this may be a conservative estimate. If the anticipated capacity of the other six units is added to that MUL, the strain on the economy can be severe. It is also a telling comment on the government's recent hike in petroleum price supposedly as a measure to curtail fuel consumption.