A combination of various factors has hurt automobile sales in India and an immediate government intervention in the form of a GST rate cut can help bring back growth to the industry, S.S. Kim, Hyundai Motor India’s managing director and CEO said on Tuesday.

Kim said with government help, recovery can happen within this year.

“While the coming festive season will see a bit of a revival but customers are still holding back their purchases. We are expecting some government intervention to perk up the market in terms of easing the liquidity crunch. But the most tangible intervention that we are expecting is a GST rate cut,” he said.

Kim was speaking at the launch of the company’s new generation Grand i10 NIOS in New Delhi.

When asked about production cuts, Kim said, “We have had to stop production at our hatchback assembly lines. But our SUV assembly lines are full and busy... the company has no plans to hold back its Rs 7,000 crore investment plan or lay off any of its workers.”