HYDERABAD: Diwali and Dasara have managed to lift the spirits of vehicle buyers in Telangana as there has been a 44.75 per cent rise in the number of vehicle purchases as compared to previous month. As per official data from the Telangana Road Transport Department, over 94,864 vehicles were purchased between October 1 to October 24. In the month of September, only 65,536 vehicles were purchased.
The rise is being attributed to the fact that automobile dealers have gone out of their way to give enormous discounts and offers to woo buyers into investing in vehicles. “The retailers have given lot of sops and discounts to tempt the customers. For this month, the trends are good owing to the festive season. The true picture will only be apparent by the end of November. We have to see whether all the efforts of government have helped increase the purchasing power of the buyers or not,” said P Santhosh Reddy, executive member, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Automobile Dealers Association.
Clearly, the rise is seen only for this month. A glance at data from the last three years shows that 2019 had the lowest sales when compared to the previous years for the period of August to October, when Diwali-Dasara sales usually peak.
In 2017, there were about 2,58,649 vehicles purchased in the month of August, September and October. During the corresponding period in 2018, the numbers slightly increased to 2,66,158. In 2019, however, it
dipped to an all-time low of 2,41,305 vehicles.
The sales thus have dropped by 9.33 per cent between 2018 and 2019, indicative of the slowdown in the sector.
Express had previously reported on how the worst hit sectors were two-wheelers and commercial vehicles in August, when the sector leaders first spoke about the slowdown. “The under-15 lakh vehicles are still not being purchased as expected. We need to wait and watch. When dealers introduce BS-VI vehicles, people may go for that,” said Reddy.