In line with the last six month?s trend, car and two-wheeler sales showed robust growth for the month of July compared with same month last year. Sales of passenger cars grew almost 31% and two-wheeler by 20%. However, the key highlight has been the 9.6% increase in the sale of commercial vehicles after almost a year of continuous decline.
According to the sales figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (Siam) on Monday, domestic passenger car sales were at 1,15,067 units in July, up 30.91%, against the same month last year. This is the sixth consecutive month when domestic passenger cars have showed growth after steep decline in the October to December period last year.
During the month, motorcycle sales in the country showed an increase of 19.48% at 5,46,245 units compared to the corresponding month last year. Total two-wheeler sales in July showed a growth at the same level as motorcycles with an increase of 20.07% at 7,19,668 units.
?The growth witnessed in the passenger car segment was due to the low-base effect of last July. Usually, sales in June is low due to monsoon, and it picks up in July,? said Dilip Chenoy, director general of Siam. Chenoy added that the passenger car segment will continue to witness healthy growth over the next two-three months on account of low-base of last year, which was an outcome of a demand slump.
In what can be seen as signs of renewed economic activity, after continuous decline for the last 11 months, commercial vehicle (CV) sales were up 9.61% at 37,624 units in July compared with 34,325 units in the year-ago period. Chenoy said that despite the positive signs, credit still remains an issue for the segment and several first-time buyers are facing problems in availing finance for their purchases. ?
As far as exports are concerned, passenger car exports from India were up 22.44 % in July on the back of the scrappage programme initiated by some European countries which gave incentives for buying of new cars in exchange of the old ones. However, Siam has cautioned that the export numbers may slowdown in the coming months as the global markets are not out of the woods completely.?
In July, passenger car exports stood at 33,506 units against 27,364 units in the year ago period. While motorcycle sales in the overseas countries were up 5.18% at 89,420, exports of commercial vehicles, however, fell 28.42% to 3,208 units. ?The overall jump in exports was mainly driven by the passenger car segment, otherwise in other categories it is very low. Global demands are still low and it will impact the future exports,? said Chenoy.