General Motors, the world's biggest carmaker, wants to consolidate its presence in India as it expects the country will emerge as the second-fastest growing automobile market globally in the next decade.

"Next decade, India will be the second-fastest growing automobile market in world. . . it till be important for GM to do well in emerging markets such as India for its future," GM chairman Rick Wagoner said on Tuesday at a meeting with the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Global car sales this year are estimated to be about 70 million units, he said, adding 70 per cent of the growth would be coming from Asia-Pacific region,

He said during his Prime Minister Manmohan Singh earlier today he assured the company's support to enhance India-US economic relations.

Wagoner said he was impressed with the vision of Singh about the Indian economy and political system, and also the vision for the automobile sector.

The 2016 automotive mission plan was a well-thought out programme and GM would be happy to be a part of this strategy, he added.

General Motors also plans to increase sourcing from India over the next 4-5 years to $1 billion annually.

"We have been increasing localisation content and with volumes expected to rise, we expect to raise sourcing from India to a level of $1 billion," D Nick Reilly, president of GM Asia Pacific, said.

Citing the example of Korea, he said within four-and-a-half years of operations, sourcing from that country has increased to slightly less than a billion dollars.

In India, he said, the company has ensured about 92 per cent localisation in Chevrolet Tavera. The soon-to-be-launched small car Spark would also have a very high level of local contents, he added. -- PTI

(Above) Rick Wagoner, chairman of General Motors, talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Photograph: STRDEL/AFP/Getty Images