Gadkari steers the show as Zee Auto Summit shifts mobility into top gear

MUMBAI: If mobility had a master key, the Zee Auto Summit 2025 turned it unlocking a full-throttle conversation on India’s next era of transport. Hosted by Zee Media and driven by DNAIndia.com in New Delhi, the summit brought policy makers, auto giants, mobility innovators and creators under one roof, with union road transport & highways minister Nitin Gadkari leading the charge as chief guest.

The evening kicked off on a refreshing note with “Drive Like a Woman”, a spirited panel moderated by Chayan Rastogi, featuring Supriya Nagpal, Brinda Sharma, Mia Lakra, Tarini Mukherjee and Nupur Kalra. Together, they dismantled stereotypes women face on Indian roads and spotlighted a rising generation of confident, tech-aware female drivers who are pushing brands to rethink design, communication and inclusivity.

Luxury rolled in next with a fireside chat between WION’s Meraj Shah and BMW Group India president & CEO Hardeep S. Brar, who unpacked India’s booming premium-car wave. With urbanisation rising and Gen Z adopting leasing and subscription models, Brar noted that luxury sales are growing over 10 per cent faster than mass-market sales driven equally by performance, aspiration and emotional payoff.

The conversation then swerved into safety with a panel moderated by Techlusive Editor Dinesh Sharma, bringing together Hero MotoCorp’s Vikram Kasbekar, Volvo Car India’s Jyoti Malhotra, and Toyota Kirloskar Motor’s Vikram Gulati. With India witnessing an alarming rise in road accidents, the trio stressed the need for tech-led safety features, stronger road engineering, stricter enforcement and, crucially, a cultural shift towards responsible driving.

But the summit’s highlight came when Nitin Gadkari took the stage for a fireside conversation with Zee News anchor Shobhna Yadav. Gadkari laid out India’s blueprint for a cleaner, faster and more efficient mobility system from the Dehradun–Delhi corridor and Kanpur–Lucknow expressway to ambitious plans for decongesting Pune, Chennai and the Bengaluru–Chennai routes. With logistics costs being pushed down from 16 per cent towards single digits, he reiterated a clear national goal, “India wants to be the world’s No. 1 economy, powered by efficient, clean and safe transportation.”

Zee Media CEO Raktim Das summed up the mission of the summit, noting that mobility today is “technology-enabled intelligence, sustainability and experience,” and that the forum aimed to shape the national conversation around the future of movement.

The evening concluded with the Zee Auto Awards 2025, celebrating innovation and excellence across the automotive sector. Winners included:

● Luxury Brand of the Year: BMW

● Sustainable Mobility Champion: Toyota Kirloskar Motor

● Scooter of the Year: Hero Destini 125

● Best 350cc Motorcycle: Yezdi Roadster

● Design of the Year: VinFast VF7

● Iconic Car of the Year: Tata Sierra

● Innovation in Mobility: Qualcomm

● Electric Car of the Year: Hyundai Creta Electric

● Bike of the Year: Hero Glamour X

● Disruptor EV of the Year: Mahindra XEV 9e

● SUV of the Year: Hyundai Venue

● Manufacturer of the Year: Maruti Suzuki

With conversations spanning gender, luxury, safety, infrastructure and sustainability and streamed across Zee News, Zee Business, Wion, DNAIndia.com, India.com and Techlusive, the summit reaffirmed one thing: India’s mobility journey isn’t just accelerating. It’s evolving.