NEW DELHI: After witnessing negative growth for successive months, the passenger vehicle (PV) market showed signs of revival in October. As per the latest data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, domestic PV sales rose 1.55 per cent in October to 2.84 lakh units as against 2.79 lakh units in the year-ago month.
While one was expecting higher growth ahead of the festive season month, soaring fuel prices, higher insurance premium, and a slowdown in the stock market, among other factors, held back purchases. “The growth of PVs could have been better, but a lot has happened over the last three months which has led to subdued market sentiments… In spite of demand, sales are not high as people are feeling that this is not the right time to make purchases,” said Vishnu Mathur, director general, SIAM.
As for the festive month of November, Mathur said that the impact of the mentioned factors would only be known next month, but until the end of October, sales have been slow. Carmakers have already indicated that the festive season isn’t as glittery as they would have wanted. SIAM forecast PV sales to grow at 7-9 per cent this fiscal, a difficult task given PV sales have grown by 6.10 per cent to 20,28,529 units in the April-October period this fiscal.
In July, August and September, PV sales declined by 2.71 per cent, 2.46 per cent and 5.61 per cent, respectively. On the other hand, commercial vehicles (CVs) continued their strong momentum despite a hiccup in availing credit caused by a liquidity crunch with NBFCs. The segment grew by 25 per cent year-on-year to 87,147 units in October. Good infrastructure development was the key growth driver for CVs.
Two-wheeler sales increased in double digits at 17.23 per cent to 2,053,497 units, driven by rural demand and evading the impact of the revised insurance premiums. Motorcycles continue to grow at a higher pace (20 per cent) than scooter sales 12.59 per cent. The industry had sales of 2,494,426 units last month, registering a growth of 15.33 per cent.