"Some studies tell us [that it is the result of ] the mindsets of millennials, who now prefer not to commit to an EMI to buy an automobile and instead would prefer to have Ola or Uber or take the metro," the minister stated on Wednesday during a media interaction in the Indian city of Chennai.
The minister made the remark commenting on statistics that showed that the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had experienced a dip of 31.57% year-on-year (to 196,524 units) in August.
Millennials, however, were not happy with the minister's accusations and were quick to object with an avalanche of reactions on Twitter.
Several Twitter users shared jokes and clever plays on words related to the statement made by the minister, prompting #SayitLikeNirmalatai to trend on Twitter.
Tourism is down because people are seeing photos and videos of places online.#SayItLikeNirmalaTai
Others Tweeted hilarious posts, trolling the finance minister and resulting in a meme-fest on Twitter.
In contrast to what the minister had said, top industrialists Pawan Goenka and Rajiv Bajaj said that the crisis in the automobile sector is due to overproduction and stocking by companies