Gaikindo Reveals Outcomes of Meeting with Finance Minister Purbaya
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - General Secretary of the Indonesian Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo) Kukuh Kumara has revealed a meeting with Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa that took place some time ago.
In a discussion forum with the Industrial Journalists’ Forum (Forwin) at the Ministry of Industry building in Jakarta on Wednesday (22/4/2026), he stated that the meeting was still preliminary and did not yet address strategic issues in the automotive industry, particularly incentives.
“At that time, we were there for an audience and requested his availability for a conference with Gaikindo at GIIAS later on 4 August 2026; we asked him to be the keynote speaker, and he agreed to attend,” Kukuh said on Wednesday.
“Other matters were not discussed (including electric vehicle incentives) because the time was limited at that point. However, he is willing to sit down again with Gaikindo,” he added.
Previously, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa held a meeting with Gaikindo at the Ministry of Finance office on Thursday (9/4/2026), discussing the strengthening of the domestic automotive market as well as the acceleration of the transition to electric and hybrid vehicles.
In that meeting, Purbaya highlighted the performance of the national automotive industry, which showed positive trends throughout the first quarter of 2026.
“The government is committed to providing support so that the domestic automotive industry becomes increasingly competitive globally, while also encouraging the transition to cleaner vehicles,” Purbaya said in his official statement.
He added that synergy between government policies and industry readiness is a key factor for Indonesia to strengthen its role in the global electric vehicle supply chain, while also reducing carbon emissions from the transportation sector.
On the other hand, Gaikindo Chairman Putu Juli Ardika stated that his side is still awaiting policy certainty from the government, particularly regarding the direction of automotive stimuli this year.
“As an organisation representing producers, we are certainly waiting for the government’s decision. Clearly, communication with the government continues,” Putu told Kompas.com recently.
According to him, stimuli in the automotive sector can basically be directed towards two sides: producers (upstream) or consumers (downstream). However, in the current situation, policies targeting vehicle buyers directly are considered more effective for boosting demand.
“Stimuli can actually be divided into two: for manufacturing and for vehicle buyers. But what is most feasible to provide now is indeed for consumers,” Putu said.
He explained that the automotive industry has already received various investment facilities, such as tax holidays and other easements. Therefore, incentives that lower vehicle prices at the consumer level are believed to have a greater impact on increasing sales.
“Manufacturing already has facilities like tax holidays and several other investment easements. So what is being addressed now is more towards buyers to make vehicles more affordable,” he said.
“With stimuli from the government, the market is starting to favour vehicles like battery electric vehicles. Besides being more environmentally friendly, their operational costs are also cheaper,” he added.
For information, several automotive incentives ended on 31 December 2025, including the exemption of import duties on completely built-up electric cars, 10 per cent VAT for electric cars, and government-borne luxury goods sales tax incentives for hybrid cars.