With slowdown hitting the economy,IT industry in Pune seems to have put its aggressive expansion plan on hold. A day after the index of industrial production released by government which pointed to the dip in factory output at the national level,the industry leaders pointed out that there was a slump in vehicle sales. Due to the prevailing market gloom,IT industry is not looking at major expansion,they said. Gaurav Mehra,managing director of Saba Software India Pvt Ltd and president of Software Exporters Association of Pune (SEAP),however,said that IT exports were less influenced by the domestic conditions than the overall global economic trends. We have not stopped hiring,but we are not going for any aggressive expansion as of now. Force Motors chairman Abhay Firodia said the commercial vehicle industry was better poised than the passenger vehicle industry. Our commercial vehicle sales are more influenced by the rural economic conditions. We are better off than the stakeholders in the passenger vehicle category, said Firodia. Shailander Goswami,chairman of auto component committee of the Mahratha Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) said last month,there was a sizeable dip in sales. Compared to the targets,the vehicle sale was nearly five per cent less last month. He said the target of overall growth of 15-17 per cent for the sale in the vehicles by this year-end as compared to last year was likely to see a decline. According to the data of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM),the total domestic sales in November were 14,89,714 whereas the export sales,including those of three-wheelers,two-wheelers,and passenger and commercial vehicles,were 2,42,238. Pune has a major contribution to these sales figures. Goswami said that the slowdown in the vehicle sales was affecting the ancillary auto-component industries in the small and medium businesses in Pune. Industry sees a slowdown due to multiple reasons,including the increase in fuel prices and the hike in interest rates. Our input from the industry is that there are many projects which have not taken off,leading to the slowdown, said MCCIA director general Anant Sardeshmukh. Chief currency strategist of Geojit Comtrade Ltd,Himal Doshi,said the decline in the value of rupee in comparison to the dollar was one of the major dampeners to growth and a setback to the efforts to check inflation.
