India’s largest and most important 2W event welcomed over 400 delegates

This year, India’s largest and most important Two Wheeler event welcomed over 400 delegates through the doors of The Leela in Gurgaon. The number of speakers doubled to 60 from the 2018 event, delegate attendance grew from 300 to 410, and the number of partners more than doubled from 15 to 35.

Two Wheeler Forum has been called “The Calendar Event of the Indian 2W Industry” for a good reason. The event has become known for attracting some of Indian 2W Industry’s  eminent leaders, from Niti Aayog’s Shri Anil Srivastava to Honda’s Mr. Harbhajan Singh.

Shri Anil Srivastava, Principal Consultant and Mission Director of Niti Aayog, opened proceedings at the event with his keynote and spoke about the slowdown in the sector and the innovation and disruption that is taking place in the Indian Two Wheeler Industry. He mentioned that 50% of the total distance travelled is by Two Wheelers, especially, where the distance is less than 5 km, therefore, there is a dire need for the industry to change the technology from ICE to Electric Vehicles or other Alternative Fuels.

He laid emphasis on removing all the impediments that hamstring the industry’s ability to self-manufacture electric vehicles, he also alluded at future policy which will provide direct incentive for battery manufacturers to promote in house manufacturing and avoid importing.

The subsequent keynote panel discussed the opportunities and challenges present for the next 2 years in the Indian 2W Industry. Topics of discussion ranged from the inconvenience to the incumbent players from disruptive forces such as EV to the Indian consumer’s obsession with brand name and serviceability. Mr. Sohinder Gill – Global CEO, Hero Electric spoke about the misuse and abuse of the electric vehicles due to the change in driving style and also the limited opportunity for pilferage among the commercial users. Mr. Nikunj Sanghi added his view on the role of the dealer community in educating the customer on the difference in the vehicle to avoid such misuse and supporting the entire ecosystem in general.

The BSVI debate brought out the problem of pricing and demand that the OEMs are going to face. While there isn’t much of a technological challenge due to the leapfrog to BSVI, however, the major problem will be the impact on demand due to the price increase of 8-10% because of the shift to BS6, pointed out Mr. Balraj Bhanot (Former Director, ARAI) and Mr. Sudipto Basu (Executive Director, Emissions Control Manufacturers Association).

Discussion on electric mobility was one of the biggest draws at the event. And the panel shed light on the problem of infrastructure and finance in the sector. The panelists called upon the industry incumbents to come forward and put their weight behind the EV movement to fix these issues.

While the push on EV was one of the key themes of discussion at the forum, in response to an audience query on ROI in the EV space, Mr. Gill stated “Learn the art of losing money, if you want to enter into the EV Industry.”

The above comment best exemplifies the event’s format that emphasised on candid discussions on topics of wide industry interest and provoking conversations that matter.

To do justice to the perplexing diversity of innovation and disruption which the Indian 2W industry has never seen, the conference was split into two parallel tracks. One focused on current developments such as BS-VI, 2W Consumer Trends and Alternate Fuels, while the accent in the future opportunities track was on EV, Connectivity, Shared Mobility and the Tech transforming 2Ws.

The breadth of topics had been selected by running a 2 month long survey with 2W industry professionals reflecting the organisers commitment to create an event that is “By the 2W industry, For the 2W industry.”

The forum ended on a positive note and prominent comment from most of the delegates, speakers and partners to sum up the proceedings was “One Industry, One Voice, One Day”.

For more information regarding the event, log onto https://twforum.in/ or get in touch with the Event Director of Two Wheeler Forum, Rohit Dewan on +91-9811152332 or email him on rohit@threefold.in