Q) How do you see the Indian automotive market, and what are the factors that drive and influence Covestro’s product offerings in India?

Anand Srinivasan: The McKinney Report 2019 states that India is likely to become the third largest automotive market in the world. The report says that the key factors that drive this would be rapid urbanisation, a burgeoning middle class, increased consumer spends, continued government focus on the sector, and low sharing of mobility barring high-density urban areas.   

We feel there could be a spike in the luxury car segment and the mid-entry level cars. These are facilitated by the government focus on infrastructure development and the love of inter-city independent travel. In India, cars are seen as a status symbol and this will continue to drive the consumption pattern.

This year's Auto Expo was dominated by electric vehicles where auto-giants like Hyundai, Mahindra and Mahindra, and Tata Motors unveiled their plans.

Another significant factor is that India continues to be the centre for frugal engineering. This leads to cost-efficient, ground-up innovation that also fits into each consumer's value proposition and fuel the growth in consumption.

Q)  Consumers are very choosey about the car interior. Personal car users want interiors that appeal to their personality and emotions. Riders in share-riding expect the interiors to be robust, and functional. Such broad expectations are putting much pressure on designers and engineers of the OEMs. How do you take this challenge as a material supplier? What products do you offer for automotive interiors?

Anand Srinivasan: In India, car interiors traditionally have been robust – irrespective of the type or choice of interior. The end-consumers always prefer robust and highly functional products to delicate and limited functionality products. This comes from the value proposition ingrained in the Indian DNA.

The expectations in the personal car space are most likely to become a requirement in the share-riding space also. This will be essentially driven by pressure on margins which will force share-car owners to focus on value-addition to generate premiums. As a result, a product today for the personal car space will become an innovation for a share-car owner tomorrow. 

So any product, we create for the personal car space becomes an investment in the innovation for the more mass requirements of share-riding. Covestro provides materials like polyurethanes for seats, coverings and coatings. Covestro's flexible polyurethane foam car seats offer significant ergonomic advantages over seats in other materials and reduce fuel consumption.

Q)  Automotive lighting has gained momentum due to the growing focus on safety and energy efficiency. The designing of headlamps and rear lamps is getting more complicated. What kind of challenges are you facing in this segment, and how are you tackling them? What new technologies do you are work on in the segment?

Anand Srinivasan: Safety and energy efficiency is definitely on top of our agenda. Factors such as emphasis on road safety, implementation of stringent government regulations, and rise in production drive the growth of the automotive lighting market. However, the high cost of LEDs had restrained the automotive lighting market growth. Lighting is one of the more challenging needs to address. Simple understanding like the type of lighting and the impact on cars coming on the opposite direction can often be the critical differentiator.

The most important contribution to cost is the demand for vehicles equipped with advanced technologies. While globally, features like communication with the pedestrians to ensure better safety have gained momentum, the focus in India is more skewed to convenience. The concept of safety (which is among the slow-moving traffics globally) is significantly different. In that, the ability to use halogen lighting without inconveniencing the driver on the opposite side could be a very simple example. These and the focus on reducing carbon footprint on any consumption have gained momentum.

However, to our advantage, India is a highly skilled and bright-minded innovative nation. Therefore, our limitations impose on us the need to innovate cost-efficiently without compromising on the product quality and end result.

This holds us in a very good state – where we like to call our innovations as being N&N (needs & norms) compliant. We as an organisation have been able to focus on "Building the Future" through our energy-efficient products across many different industries and are confident of bringing the same to the automotive sector.

Q) A supplier may create excellent materials for the interior or exterior, but it has to be compatible with the design of a product. OEMs also want to offer differentiators in the market. With the growing complexity of interior and exterior designs, what are the challenges that you face?

Anand Srinivasan: For the interior or exterior, the key challenge lies in estimating consumer expectations. The need for any OEM is to read the current and latent needs of the end-consumers and to enable automotive companies to integrate their products into the consumers' life. Before answering this question, I think it is very important to understand the drivers of change in consumer expectations.

The evolving lifestyle of the urban classes and DINKs, DISKs and DIDKs are driving the economy. This essentially means less time at home and more at work. The ability to leave from the work will largely depend on the time utilisation during travel. The second is the need for better connectivity, even on the go. To improve their own productivity, for home tasks or for office work, cars will increasingly need to cater to smarter, easier and more interactive tools like touch screens instead of music systems, voice-activated products and similar others. The third one is a culture of digitised work environment penetrating into family time. With increased exposure to digitisation, even children have taken to it like fish in the water. As a result, family cars are expected to be compliant with the latest gizmos and gadgets that make a child's travel time more interactive while giving parents the chance to complete work on chores on the go. 

The luxury segment, on the other hand, is leaning more towards ensuring that travel is the downtime that people need in their busy lives. Thus the focus on a premium look and feel products, entertainment like exotic grills and mood elements, interactive panels, capacitive switches and more. In this segment, the driver is clearly making the PVQ (Perceived Value Quotient) less elastic. To do that, redefining luxury every 6 months becomes a mandate. I think the level of consumer expectations is very high. For that we are in a constant state of Research and Innovation. (MT)

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Hindustan Zinc Limited, India's sole and the world's biggest integrated zinc producer, said today that its Board of Directors has authorised the first phase of investments to double production capacity.

This development is in line with the robust rise in the demand for steel both domestically and internationally. Over the next five years, the company intends to increase its capacity for producing metal and silver, increasing its overall production capacity to over 2,000 KTPA and 1500 tonnes, respectively. In addition to expanding related mines and mills throughout its operations, the Board has authorised the proposal to establish a new 250 KTPA integrated smelter at Debari in the Udaipur area of Rajasthan. The company’s current metal production capacity is 1.1 million tonnes. At a total cost of over INR 120 billion, the project is expected to be finished in 36 months.

This is an important development since it coincides with the ongoing global zinc market shortage. Silver output has increased more than 20 times, while zinc production has increased four times since the government sold up its share in 2002 and the Vedanta Group bought it. Holding the second-highest zinc reserves and resources in the world with more than 25 years of mine life, the firm is one of the lowest cost zinc producers in the world.

Arun Misra, CEO, Hindustan Zinc Limited, said, “We are excited to announce this 2x growth project towards doubling our capacity across zinc, lead and silver, which is strategically aligned with the country’s expanding economic landscape, increasing demand opportunities and keeping country self-reliant for Zinc. By closely matching the pace of national growth, we are confident that this will create significant value for our stakeholders and drive long-term success.”

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India’s automotive industry could face fresh supply chain disruptions by mid-July 2025 due to declining inventories of rare earth magnets, following tightened export restrictions and shipment delays from China, according to rating agency ICRA.

Jitin Makkar, Senior Vice President and Group Head – Corporate Ratings at ICRA, cautioned that the situation echoes the semiconductor shortage of 2021–22, which led to the loss of nearly 100,000 passenger vehicles. “Rare earth magnet inventories are projected to last only until mid-July 2025 for several passenger vehicle and two-wheeler applications,” he said.

Neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets, critical for high-performance uses like EV traction motors and power steering systems, are heavily imported – around 85 percent of India’s USD 200 million imports in FY2025 came from China. These magnets make up nearly 30 percent of an electric two-wheeler motor’s cost, with motors priced between INR 8,000 and INR 15,000 depending on specifications.

To counter the supply challenge, Indian OEMs and auto component manufacturers are exploring several alternatives: importing fully assembled motors from China, sending rotors to China for magnet assembly, using substitute materials with similar properties, or switching to rare earth-free motors using electromagnets. However, each option faces significant logistical, regulatory, and engineering hurdles.

While the immediate impact could disrupt production planning, ICRA believes the crisis may also drive innovation and diversification in both materials and supply chains for the Indian auto sector.

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Hyundai Mobis, a part of Hyundai Group specialising in manufacturing of auto components, modules & systems, has developed a new rear safety control technology that can reduce rear-end collisions.

The company states its new active control technology uses sensors to detect approaching vehicles from behind and manoeuvre the vehicle out of danger, is expected to hit the market soon. It integrates sensors such as rear-side radars and front cameras with driving control technology.

The solution works when the driver engages the Smart Cruise Control (SCC) function on the highway. When the sensors detect any other vehicle at a proximity of 10 metres or less, it first emits an audio alarm or a visual warning on the cluster. When the situation keeps persisting after a certain amount of time, the vehicle automatically accelerates to maintain a safe distance. In addition, the rear side radars also detect the movement of the vehicle behind, while the front camera recognises the lane and vehicle ahead on the driving path to assist in safe acceleration.

Hyundai Mobis acknowledges that while some global OEMs have already integrated such technology, the functions are not yet advanced enough for the vehicle to control itself autonomously. On the other hand, its technology is able to independently adjust the distance between the front and rear vehicles and avoid dangerous situations.
The Korean company plans to further expand the scope of autonomous control for defensive driving against rear vehicles. Currently, the company is developing a lane-changing function to escape dangerous situations, in addition to an acceleration control function that allows the vehicle to speed up on its own.

Jung Soo-kyung, Executive Vice-President and Head of Automotive Electronics Business Units, Hyundai Mobis, said, “We will actively protect the safety of mobility users by providing solutions that can intelligently handle not only front-end safety, but also dangerous situations caused by rear vehicles while driving.”

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HARMAN, a leading automotive technology company and subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, has unveiled an advanced in-vehicle display that elevates the driving experience with consumer-tech-level visuals. This cutting-edge display, set to debut in the all-new Tata Harrier.ev, represents the first automotive integration of Samsung’s proprietary Neo QLED technology, exclusively licensed and optimised by HARMAN for vehicle applications.

The new 14.53-inch floating Neo QLED display delivers stunning home-theatre-quality visuals with vibrant colours, deep contrast and enhanced brightness, all powered by intelligent algorithms and a sleek, modern design. Engineered to perform flawlessly in all lighting conditions, the display incorporates HARMAN’s proprietary real-time visual control technology, which dynamically adjusts image output to optimize power efficiency. Among its key innovations are the industry’s first cadmium-free Quantum Dot display with intelligent Blue Mini-LED control, 1200-nit peak brightness, true black levels and an expansive 95 percent NTSC colour gamut. The ultra-slim design, featuring bezels under five mm, ensures a seamless and sophisticated aesthetic.

This breakthrough builds on HARMAN’s longstanding partnership with Tata Motors, which began with the integration of JBL audio systems in Tata vehicles across India. With the Harrier.ev, the collaboration now extends to premium branded displays, reinforcing both companies’ commitment to innovation and superior in-car experiences.

Shilpa Dely, Vice President – Displays, HARMAN, said, “We’ve brought together Samsung’s cutting-edge consumer display innovation and HARMAN’s deep automotive expertise to create something truly unique: a first-of-its-kind, in-vehicle visual experience that brings living room TV-level brilliance to the road. We have finally closed the gap between consumer and automotive display technology – and we’re proud to debut this global breakthrough with our trusted partners at Tata Motors.”

Anand Kulkarni, Chief Products Officer, Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Limited, said, “We’re committed to delivering world-class technology to Indian consumers. Together with HARMAN, we're bringing the best of consumer display innovation in India’s most capable SUV, the recently launched Harrier.ev, transforming it into a true third living space after home and office. This collaboration sets a new standard for in-cabin experiences – not just in India, but around the world.”

Sanjeev Kulkarni, Vice President – Sales, HARMAN, said, “Our partnership with Tata Motors spans more than a decade and is built on a like-minded approach to innovation, along with a joint promise to deliver the very best in-cabin experiences to our customers,”. “From JBL premium audio to advanced intelligent cockpit solutions, HARMAN is a defining part of the Tata driving experience. With the introduction of our new display product, we’re proud to take that collaboration even further.”

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