INDIAN Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Praful Patel met with UK Secretary of State Phillip Hammond, Minister Incharge of OLEV (Office for Low Emission Vehicles) in London today and said that the Indian auto industry is going through an interesting phase with fast growth projections. While 2.5 million vehicles are projected to be produced this year, the figure would soon go up to 10 million vehicle annually. The Minister said that while India moves forward in this growth path, utmost care is being taken for the protection of the environment and hence the stress is on growth in Low Emission Vehicles.

The Minister informed his UK counterpart about India’s launch of the mission on electric vehicle mobility and expressed his desire to learn from the experiences of UK in low emission vehicle. He said that the Indian Government is looking at making it not just a success but a commercial success and would like working together with the UK Government in this sphere.

Speaking on the occasion, the UK Secretary of State said that it was the UK Government’s conscious decision to support early markets and launch markets. In this sphere, he indicated his Government’s keenness to support the Indian market.