NEW DELHI: For those who were expecting a turnaround in the demand for automobiles after the passenger vehicle (PV) sales turned positive in the festive month of October, may get disappointed with the latest data released by SIAM shows the slowdown is far from over.
While dispatches of utility vehicle (UV) witnessed an impressive growth of 33 per cent year-on-year last month, total PV sales went down by one per cent to 2,63,773 units against 2,66,000 units sold in the same month last year.
Further, domestic car sales dipped 11 per cent to 1,60,306 units compared to 1,79,783 units in November 2018, while demand for vans fell 34 per cent to 10,728 units. "We are seeing a bit of marginal negative growth in the PV segment. The negative growth trend continues and the challenges of course are still there," SIAM director general Rajesh Menon said.
According to SIAM data, most of the segments show a dip, with an overall drop of 12 per cent across all categories from 2,038,007 vehicles sold in November 2018 to 1,792,415 vehicles sold in the last month. Two-wheeler sales dropped 14 per cent to 1,410,939 units, while sales of commercial vehicles (CVs) declined 15 per cent to 61,907 units.
Menon said that the falling consumption in rural areas is the main reason for negative sales growth of two-wheelers, while lack of infrastructure project is impacting the CV sales. Meanwhile, SIAM will continue to ask the government to reduce the goods and services tax (GST) slab for automobiles to spur demand, the SIAM DG further said.
“If the income tax reliefs are announced in the Union Budget for 2020-21, it will be of great help. We have also called for a reduction in GST to help manufacturers,” he added.India’s automobile sector has been experiencing a slump for over a year with nearly all manufacturers reporting falling sales due to subdued consumer sentiment amid an economic slowdown.