DNA Special: Reality of waiting list for cars

If you are also thinking of buying a new car, then today you must know about the waiting list, in which 7 lakh people of the country are already in. These are the people who had booked their new cars a long time ago. But despite this, these companies have not been able to deliver new vehicles to their customers so far.

There are 2.5 lakh customers of Maruti, one lakh each from Hyundai, Tata Motors and Mahindra and 75,000 customers of Kia Motors in this waiting list. Now the question is when people are ready to buy vehicles at higher prices then why these companies are not able to deliver new vehicles? So it is because of the huge shortage of semiconductor chips in the world. Although this chip is much smaller than a box of matches in size, it has shaken a total of 170 industries in the world. And the industry that has been affected the most among them is the automobile industry.

The lack of semiconductor chips has caused a loss of Rs 150 lakh crore to the auto industry this year.

You can guess the shortage of semiconductor chips from the fact that the economy of many countries has come under threat due to their shortage. In Japan, where major car makers like Toyota, Suzuki, Nissan have their headquarters, there has been a huge economic loss due to the lack of chips. In September 2021, Japan's exports decreased by 46 percent compared to the year 2020. This is enough to weaken the economy of any country. Similarly, the countries of Central Europe have also suffered a great loss due to the lack of chips. In India too, the share of the auto sector in the country's GDP is 6.4 percent that gives employment to about 3 crore people.

Nowadays, all the vehicles that are made all over the world, semiconductor chips are used in their power steering, brake sensor, entertainment system, airbags and parking cameras. Generally, more than 1,000 semiconductor chips are installed in a vehicle. These chips are based on computer programming and also process the data of your vehicle. Modern vehicles are almost impossible to build without semiconductor chips.

Not only in vehicles, but this chip is also used in every device that is modern, connected to the internet and has special features. For example, mobile phones, laptops, televisions and other home appliances. Therefore, their manufacturing has also been affected by this shortage. Tech giant Apple was to produce 90 million units of iPhone 13 this year but due to the lack of chips, only 80 million units have been produced.

COVID-19 is the most responsible for this crisis of chips. Due to the pandemic, the production of semiconductor chips all over the world had decreased a lot for a year and even now its supply is very less than the demand. The biggest problem is that only a few companies in the whole world have the ability to make semiconductor chips. These companies have also increased their production, but still, their shortage will remain before the year 2023.

Apart from this, a big challenge is that no company in India makes semiconductor chips and India is completely dependent on imports in this matter. Most of these chips are supplied to the car makers of India from Malaysia, where at present, the production of these chips is interrupted due to coronavirus. So if you are planning to get a new vehicle for the upcoming festivals, you may not get its delivery on time and you have to pay more. Think of it as if you booked a car today but that vehicle is delivered to you after 6 months in May or June next year. So in such a situation, you will not have to pay the current price of the car but will have to pay the price, which will be in the month of May or June. This price will be high because the input cost of carmakers, that is, the cost during manufacturing, has increased by an average of 6 percent in this year only.

Now the big question is what is the solution?

All the big companies estimate that this chip crisis will continue till the year 2022 and by 2023, it will be better. Therefore, if you want, you can wait for a while by not buying a new car. Or you can also think of buying a used car. Many people are doing this too. According to a report, the market for old vehicles is increasing rapidly due to the lack of timely delivery of new vehicles. According to an estimate, the sale of used vehicles in India this year has been one and a half times that of new vehicles, which could double by 2025.

Apart from this, the Central Government, looking for an opportunity in this crisis, has approved a new scheme of Rs 76,000 crore, under which the target has been set to make India self-sufficient in the production of semiconductor chips in the coming six years.