The Indian auto component industry is being estimated to grow to over 5 lakh crore (USD 110 billion) by the year 2020 driven in tandem with the surge in vehicle production in the country. Of this, the domestic turnover is expected to grow to 4 lakh crore (USD 80 billion) and exports scale up to another 1.4 lakh crore (USD 29 billion), according to a report by Automotive Component Manufacturers' Association (ACMA).

As per the report, the auto components industry turnover will cross US $26 billion this year (2010-11) up 18 per cent from US$ 22 billion in the year 2009-10. According to the ACMA-EY (Ernst & Young) Vision 2020 study, India is expected to witness strong growth in vehicle production across all segments by 2020.

Passenger vehicles - projected to be 5 million units by 2015 and over 9 million by 2020.

Commercial vehicles - volumes of over 1.4 million by 2015 and over 2.2 million by 2020. Small Commercial Vehicles (SCV), a relatively new segment, expected to grow 28% annually over the next few years.

Two and three wheelers - expected to double to 22 million units by 2015 and reach 30 million by 2020 driven by low penetration levels, expanding rural sales and growth in exports.

Tractors - projected to be over 0.7 million by 2015 and over 1 million by 2020 with steady growth expected in domestic and export volumes.

Construction equipment - likely to grow 2.5 times to 0.1 million units by 2015 and almost double to 0.18 million by 2020 driven by the infrastructure sector.

Europe is likely to account for 36.9 per cent of India's auto components exports in 2010-11, followed by Asia with 28.1 per cent and North America with 24 per cent. The industry has witnessed a shift in the composition of exports over the years. Investments in the auto components industry are estimated at US$ 12 billion in 2010-11, according to the study.

The auto component industry can thus be an engine of India's economic and manufacturing sector growth, potentially contributing 3.6% of GDP by 2020, up from the current 2.1%. To achieve this potential the auto component industry would require investments of over 1.6 lakh crore (USD 35 billion) during the period. It will also create employment opportunity for over 1 million skilled people.

The Automotive Mission Plan (AMP) 2006-2016 will further fuel the growth in the Indian auto sector and will transform India into a global automotive player. The plan aims to doubling the contribution of automotive sector in GDP and provide additional employment to 25 million people by 2016 with special emphasis on export of small cars, MUVs, two and three wheelers and auto components.

Although there is a huge potential and growth opportunities in the automobile sector, the small enterprises manufacturing automotive components and parts from India are still lagging behind in getting maximum exposure for their products at the global level and build business relationships with foreign buyers.

The Indian SMEs are still not utilizing information technology (IT) as a tool to improve their business prospects at the global level. Most of the small enterprises are unaware of the benefits that information technology and internet can offer.

Such SMEs can get great advertising opportunities on the web at a much lesser cost than the traditional ones. They can easily reach the maximum number of prospective buyers and B2B portals like automobileindustryinda.com can provide them the platform that is needed to build and grow their business at the global level. The need of the hour is to educate such smaller enterprises regarding the usage of Information technology in their businesses.

So, all the Indian manufacturers and suppliers of automotive components who want to capture the huge potential that the automotive components industry offers, can register their companies on automobileindustryindia.com and see their business grow manifold. This portal offers maximum visibility to several products related to automobile industry like auto parts, automotive accessories, auto components, automotive components, engine parts, brake parts et al, alongwith suppliers information, product details, option to send online inquiries and a host of other value added services.