Chip shortage to go on for sometime: SIAM

New Delhi: Amid ongoing global shortage of semi-conductor impacting auto brands in India, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Tuesday has said that the industry has been facing the crunch ever since the first wave of Covid-19 in 2020.

Rajesh Menon, Director General of SIAM, said that auto industry has been facing shortages of Semi-Conductors after the manufacturing returned to normal volumes after the first Covid wave in 2020.

"Shortage of semiconductors to the tier 1 and tier 2 suppliers of OEMs affected supplies of engine ECU, keyless entry, ABS systems and infotainment systems. Industry has been in touch with couple of semi-conductor suppliers globally and it is expected that the manufacturing would be ramped up, as some of these companies had faced disruptions in later part of 2020 and early 2021 due to natural calamities," Menon said.

As per the sales figure issued for the month of September, auto manufacturers including Maruti Suzuki, Bajaj Mahindra and Mahindra reported decline in sales. Earlier this month auto manufacturing giant Hyundai Motors issued a statement stating that the global semiconductor supply constraint has adversely affected the vehicle production resulting in low dispatches in the month of September 2021.

SIAM Director General has said that the challenge on requirements of Semi-Conductor will continue for some more time as new investments in semi-conductors would take time to meet the market requirements.

"There is a huge opportunity in India for manufacturers of Semiconductors to invest, not only for the captive Automotive Market, but also for meeting the requirement of other Consumer Goods and Electronics Industry," Menon added.