General Motors (GM) recently pulled out of the Indian Car market and the company’s dealers have started a 'dharna' or agitation at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi today to protest. The dealers have called the company’s exit from India "a planned conspiracy".
Most of the 96 dealers who own around 140 showrooms across India are unhappy that the company only offered five percent of their total investments as compensation.
"Never before have automobile dealers resorted to a dharna as a method of protest. But anguished by the decision of GM India to quit the domestic market without keeping their long standing dealers in the loop, we have been forced to do this," John Paul Kuttukaran, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) president, told PTI. FADA, which is the apex body of automobile dealers in the country, obtained permission to stage a peaceful dharna at Jantar Mantar.
The company’s dealers are looking at filing class action suits against the American automaker.