NEW DELHI, July 3 (Xinhua) -- The automobile industry in Tamil Nadu in south India will be able to generate as many as 500,000 fresh jobs in the next 10 years and emerge as a 20 billion U.S. dollars industry, a study by an Indian industry chamber said Monday.

    The study by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) titled "Mapping of Human Resource Skills in Tamil Nadu - 2015" said by 2015, the auto sector will employ 580,000 people.

    The southern Indian state is already home to major auto companies such as Ford, Hyundai, Ashok Leyland and components firms that employ about 80,000 people.

    Tamil Nadu has 30 percent share of the auto components market and 17-20 percent share of the vehicle industry in India, the CII study says, adding the sector has the potential for a six-to-sevenfold increase in output.

    It estimates the size of the industry in Tamil Nadu will be 15 billion U.S. dollars to 20 billion U.S. dollars by 2015.

    The study observes that the recent trends in the auto industry include the adoption of lean manufacturing practices, quality, shift from assemblers to contract manufacturers and techno-commercial purchases.

    "In product development, the auto industry needs project management and problem solving skills to identify root causes for design issues," the study says. Enditem