Union Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises (MoHI & PE), Shri Anant G Geete today inaugurated a new state of the art and modern test facilities installed as a part of the National Automotive Testing and R & D infrastructure project (NATRiP) at International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT), Manesar in Gurgaon district of Haryana. Speaking In the august presence of Shri R K Singh, JS in the Department of Heavy Industry ; Shri Sanjay Bandhopadhyaya, CEO & Project Director, National Automotive Testing and R & D Infrastructure Project(NATRiP), Shri Geete said the new facilities at ICAT have come up as a part of the initiative from the Govt. of India in form of the NATRiP project. The NATRiP project with was setup in line with the vision of automotive mission plan 2016 ; “To emerge as the destination of choice in the world for design and manufacture of automobiles and auto components with output reaching a level of US$ 145 billion accounting for more than 10% of the GDP and providing additional employment to 25 million people by 2016.”Geete said NATRIP has facilitated introduction of automotive safety, emission and performance standards in the country which are at par with global standards and fast catching up with the best standards across the globe to ensure seamless integration of Indian automotive industry with the global industry.He congratulated ICAT for successful installation and commissioning of the various facilities under the NATRiP project catering to the current day and future requirements of the Indian Auto Industry.
The facilities present at ICAT provide the best in class state-of-art capabilities in the country which are at par with the best facilities across the globe. ICAT offers an opportunity to the auto manufacturers to develop, validate and test the products and technologies which will help address the challenges faced by the auto industry in terms of stringent emission norms, increasing concern regarding the emission levels, depleting conventional energy resources and ever increasing customer expectations.The minister said the automotive industry is about to change drastically due to energy and CO2 discussion, interconnection and automation. This results in new requirements on drive trains and transmissions with regard to efficiency, comfort, dynamics and safety, which in turn lead to a large variety of competing drive and transmission concepts and to a previously unknown wave of innovations for components and assemblies.Shri Geete said he is happy to acknowledge that Indian automotive industry is emerging as the preferred choice of destination for automotive players across the globe. With the “Make In India” initiative of the government, India today is looked towards by all the major global automotive manufacturers as the destination of future.The Minister also announced the setting up of a National Automotive Board which will encompass all the Seven NATRiP Ceentres spread across the country. A souvenir on NATRiP was also released on the occasion.