National Automotive Board to be set up in India by April 2012

As part of its endeavour to encourage sustainable development of Indian automotive segment, the Government of India has decided to establish a National Automotive Board by April this year.

According to an official, the Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India has already finalised the proposal to set up NAB, which would be cleared by the Cabinet in a month's time. Elaborating on the advantages of NAB, the official told the news agency, PTI that the Board would be a bridge between the Government of India and the automotive industry, especially in promoting research and and development arena. What is more, the NAB will also act as a go between the Union Government and auto industry in a gamut of efforts including skill development and the much needed growth of hybrid electric vehicles in India.

The official further added that the Board will constitute members from Planning Commission, Department of Heavy Industry and other different allied ministries such as Road Transport and Highways, Science and Technology, Environment and Forests. Also, the Board will have members from the automobile industry as well as scientists.

Stating that NAB would be the successor of the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP), a project implementation body, the official went on to say: "The basic idea of setting up NATRiP is to establish new automotive testing and R&D Centres across the country, besides upgrading the existing centres. We have already accomplished the mission of forming such centres and upgraded few existing centres. We felt, the role of NATRiP is complete and hence, we mooted the idea of setting up NAB" For more details of this report, visit http://automotivehorizon.sulekha.com/india-to-establish-national-automotive-b...

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