Dear Friends,

I thank all of you for supporting your Federation wholeheartedly and participating in large numbers both at Dealer’s Day at the Auto Expo on January 12, 2023 (a day year marked exclusively for Dealers visit) & at FADA’s flagship event, the 12th edition of Auto Summit on 13th January’23 which took place at Taj Palace, New Delhi.

I was so delighted to personally receive many Dealer friends at FADA’s Lounge on Dealers Day, interacting with them one on one and taking photographs at the selfie area. The Day began with many OEM’s visiting the Lounge and the Lounge which was formally inaugurated by Mr Vinod Agarwal ji, President SIAM.

Towards the evening of 12th January’23, Women in FADA (WIF) meeting was hosted for warmly welcoming the women entrepreneurs in auto retail business, where many travelled for the first time to attend the Auto Expo and the Auto Summit. Though 27 members of WIF had agreed for the meeting but many could not make it on time due to heavy traffic jam. Mr Sachin Shah, Chairperson FADA GenX interacted with the ladies and shared their thoughts on the way forward.

The next day, FADA hosted its 12th Auto Summit at Taj Palace New Delhi. It has been our aspiration to do our flagship event at the best venue in New Delhi and the same got fulfilled during this edition of the summit. The Summit was grand in all aspects. With a total footfall of 1,500+ (highest ever) and maximum participation from our partners, it was the most attended Auto Summit since its inception 23 years back! In total, we had 18+ session during the day where 63 distinguished speakers took part. Auto Summit also had 29 partners without whom this event would not have been possible. Throughout the Day, the Dealer fraternity showed their strength by attending every session in large numbers thus gaining lots of insights. I am sure that at the end of the day, there were lots of takeaways from the summit for all of us!

This year during the Inaugural Session, we had with us, Shri Om Birla – Hon’ble Speaker Lok Sabha as our Chief Guest & Shri Narayan Rane, Hon’ble Minister of MSME and Shri Shailesh Chandra, Vice President – SIAM as our Guest of Honours. We welcomed all three in a unique and noble way, which we have christened as the Green Welcome Gesture! Instead of a bouquet, we welcomed them with a certificate, certifying that a thicket of 11 trees had been planted on their behalf through our partner Give Me Trees Trust.

We are also thankful to Geoffrey Pohanka, Chairman Designate, NADA, USA for sharing his video message for the benefit of the members of Indian Auto Retail business.

In addition to this we did many firsts during this edition of Auto Summit:
• Released a White Paper on Fit & Future Ready;
• Released a Coffee Table Book on Women in Auto Retail;
• Unveiled Buckle up Campaign Videos on Road Safety - promoting use of seat belt, helmet and speed kills
• Took a Green Initiative Pledge – a Vow to give one sapling with sale of new vehicle across the country by every FADA Member Dealership. Around 2 crore vehicles are retailed each year & planting of 2 crore saplings will be our bit in keeping the environment clean amongst many other efforts.
• Observing September 19 as Auto Dealers Day across India

All these initiatives were well received & in fact Shri Om Birla ji even lauded FADA’s efforts in giving back to the society!

Another major breakthrough we achieved & which was announced during the Auto Summit was Mr. Rajeev Chaba’s (President & MD – MG Motor India) official announcement of incorporating almost all clauses of FADA’s Model Dealer Agreement in their agreement with their Dealer Partners. Unveiling of the new MG Dealer agreement was done during the day. Key points of the MDA which was incorporated were shared by their team. FADA on behalf of the entire Dealer community expresses its gratitude to MG Motor India and Mr. Chaba personally for their all-out support & understanding.

Friends, let me remind you that we have met 9 OEMs in this regard & MG Motor India is the first OEM to have adopted the MDA. It has taken FADA, two years of hard work to draft this for the benefit of both, the OEMs as well as the Dealer partners.

In fact, Shri Om Birla ji having understood the importance of both Auto Dealers Protection Act & Model Dealer Agreement, he in his speech assured us that he would try to have it placed in the Lok Sabha for discussion. This was indeed a momentous moment for each one of us and I really thank Birla ji for this gesture.

Our Guest of Honour, Shri Narayan Tatu Rane, Hon’ble Minister, MSME owing to his tight schedule could not join us in person but nevertheless he joined virtually and addressed the gathering live. I along with other office bearers offer our sincere & deep gratitude to Shri Rane ji.

At this moment, I wish to also share that on January 11, 2023 we had met Shri Nitin Gadkari ji and appraised him about FADAs Road Safety initiative Buckle Up India campaign. Upon seeing the videos, he not only appreciated it but also told us that he would himself like and share the video’s through his social media handles as it would certainly help in creating awareness for use of seat belt & helmets and how speed kills.

During this edition of the Auto Summit we conferred two awards viz., Life Time Achievement Award - Indian Auto Industry was bestowed upon Dr. Pawan Goenka, Chairperson, INSPACe - Dept of Space, Government of India and Exemplary Contribution to Automobile Dealer Fraternity was presented to Mr KVS Prakash Rao, Past President FADA.

The Auto Summit also witnessed the announcement of Customer Satisfaction Survey which FADA Research will conduct annually & a Course on Management by Dashboard which will run under FADA Academy. Both the announcements were made by Mr. Vinkesh Gulati, Chairman FADA Academy & Research.

I also take this opportunity to express my sincere thanks to all our esteemed speakers who took time to be with us and share their vision and experience - Mr Harshvardhan Sharma, Head - Auto Retail Practice, Nomura Research Institute; Mr Sumit Gera, National Network Manager, MG Motor India; Mr Akash Passey, President- Bus Division, VECV; Mr Arvind Kapil, Group Head - Retail Assets, HDFC Bank Limited; Mr Dinesh Kulkarni, CFO, Kuwy Technology Service Pvt Ltd; Mr Ranjivjit Singh, Chief Growth Officer, Hero MotoCorp; Mr Rajeev Chaba, President & MD, MG Motor India P Ltd; Mr Santosh Iyer, Managing Director & CEO, Mercedes-Benz India P Ltd; Mr Hormazd Sorabjee, Editor, Autocar India; Mr Pullela Gopichand, Chief National Coach, Indian Badminton Team; Mr Ashutosh Varma, National Sales Head, Hero MotoCorp; Mr Mayank Jain, CEO-New Auto, CarDekho Group; Mr Sabyasachi Chakraborty -National Head Sales, Greaves Electric Mobility; Mr Ashish Pande, Chairperson FADA Madhya Pradesh; Mr Hemal N Thakkar, Director Transport, Mobility and Logistics, CRISIL Ltd; Mr Pratik Shah, Director Business Consulting- Performance Improvement, Ernst & Young LLP; Mr Paresh Kumar Goel, Director (Transport & IC), MoRTH; Mr Anshuman Sinha, Partner, Kearney; Dr Pawan Goenka, Chairperson, INSPACe - Dept of Space, Government of India; Mr Anil Srivastava, Professor - Energy Policy & Environment Solutions, IIT Kanpur & Director, Epsilon Advanced Materials; Mr Nitin Seth, Chief Executive Officer – New Mobility, Reliance Industries Limited; Ms Garima Avtar, Extreme Rally Driver; Ms Pamela Tikku, Chief Business Officer, ICAT; Ms Garima Misra, Chairperson FADA Delhi & Chairperson, FADA-WIF; Mr Nikunj Sanghi, Past President FADA; Ms Swati Khandelwal, Executive Editor, Zee Business; Mr Anso Jacob, Managing Partner & Lead Consultant, BodyshopGuru; Mr TD Chandrasekhar, Partner, BAF Consultants; Mr Jyoti Malhotra, Managing Director, Volvo Car India; Mr Hardeep S. Brar, Vice President & Head - Marketing & Sales, Kia Motors India; Mr Satinder Singh Bajwa, Sr. Vice President - Sales and Customer Care, M&M; Mr Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Director, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd; Mr Vikas Pandey, Sr. Executive Vice President HDFC Bank; Mr Samir Choudhry, Director, Trident Automobiles Pvt Ltd; Ms Alisha Sachdev, Assistant Editor, Mint; Mr Jalaj Gupta, Head Commercial Vehicles, Mahindra Group; Mr Nishant Arya, Vice Chairman, JBM Group & Chairman - Linde Wiemann Gmbh; Mr Sanjeev Kumar, President - MHCV, Ashok Leyland; Mr Sachin Nijhawan, Chief Operating officer, Switch Mobility Ltd; Mr Sharvik Shah, Chairperson FADA Rajasthan; Mr Rajive Saharia, Co- Founder, PremonAsia; Mr. Harminder Singh, Business Head, CarDekho; Mr. Srikanth Mahadevan, COO-Rupyy, CarDekho Group; Dr Amitabh Saran, CEO, Altigreen Propulsion Labs; Mr Atul Arya, Head Energy Systems Division, Panasonic India; Mr Diego Graffi, Chairman and MD, Piaggio Vehicles Private Limited; Mr Sandeep Mandrekar, Senior Vice President - (Car Loans, SOT, POCL & Direct Marketing Business), Mahindra Finance; Mr KVS Prakash Rao, Past President FADA; Mr Arun Malhotra, Auto industry veteran; Ms Amishi Kapadia, Joint MD & CEO, Yes Securities (India)Ltd; Mr Gurmeet Chadha, Managing Partner & CIO, Complete Circle; Mr John K Paul, Past President FADA; Mr Sanjay Thakkar, Chairman & Executive Director, Group Landmark; and Mr Parikshit Luthra, Chief of Bureau, CNBC-TV18.

I along with all my Governing Council members would like to thank our partners whose contribution and continuous support has helped FADA make its each event better than the last edition. I place my sincere thanks to our: 1. Title Partner: M&M; 2. Powered by Partner: KUWY; 3. Diamond Partners: Ashok Leyland & HDFC Bank & HDFC ERGO; 4. Platinum Partner: META; 5. Gold Partners: ICICI Bank; Kotak; CITROEN; 6. Silver Partners: Mahindra Finance; New India Assurance; TVS Motor Company; CarDekho Group; YES Bank; 7. Kit Partner: ORBITSYS Technologies; 8. Dinner Partner: ISUZU Motors India; 9. Bronze Partner: Sparecare Solutions; GULF Oil; ICICI Lombard; Cholamandalam Investment & Finance Company Ltd; MG Motor India; HERO MotoCorp; TATA Motors; Kansai Nerolac Paints; ATS ELGI; VECV; 21NORTH; INDUSIND Bank; AkzoNobel; 10. Logo Partner: BODYSHOP GURU.

I would also like to thank all my colleagues in the Executive Committee and Governing Council for sparing time during every discussion which we had to plan the event in the most successful manner. Finally I would like to thank our soldiers, the FADA Secretariat headed by Mr Saharsh Damani, CEO, FADA for working together in unison to pull off this event in the most seamless manner & making the entire process very joyful.

As I write, a fifteen member FADA delegation has left to attend NADA Convention 2023 being held in Dallas, USA from January 26 to January 29, 2023. The delegation is being headed by Mr Sai Giridhar, Secretary, FADA. On the side lines of the NADA Show, Dealership visits are also being organised in and around Dallas. Wishing all the delegates a safe journey & a great learning experience.

Friends, FADA has been receiving many queries on the upcoming BSVI OBD Stage II – norms. As per the amended CMV Rule 115 sub-rule 18(i) 16 (ii) BSVI OBD Stage II norms are only for M & N category vehicles manufactured on or after April 1, 2023

- A motor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying passengers is categorised as 'M'.
- A motor vehicle with at least four wheels used for carrying goods, which may also carry persons in addition to goods - fall under category 'N'.

Secondly, Vide GSR 809 dated November 9, 2022 – for 2W & 3W : BSVI OBD Stage II -A (partial implementation) will be applicable on vehicles manufactured on or after April 1, 2023 & BSVI OBD Stage II- B (full implementation) will become applicable for vehicles manufactured on or after April 1, 2025

Further, FADA has been in touch with MoRTH on the said issue. MoRTH has reiterated that the Government Order only talks about shift in Manufacturing from 1st April'23. In fact SIAM is also of the same view that this regulatory change will only amend the manufacturing process as there is no change in emission norms.

We should hence not panic in the said matter and go all out in retailing BSVI OBD Stage 1 Inventory to the best of our abilities and ensure a smoother transition to the BSVI OBD Stage II norms.

As I conclude, I once again wish you and your entire team a super 2023!

Happy selling and with warm regards,

Manish Raj Singhania
President - FADA