The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Government of India, announced that the country’s GDP for Q3 FY2024 came at 8.4 percent, the highest in the last six quarters.
The GDP numbers beat street estimates who were expecting the growth to come in around 6 percent. Analysts however, pointed out the moderation in the GVA growth to 6.5 percent, which led to a wide gap followed by a surge in the growth of net indirect taxes to a six-quarter high of 32 percent in the quarter, which they believe was unlikely to be sustainable.
On the other hand, captains of the Indian automotive industry continue to be upbeat about the economy.
Speaking to Financial Express Online, Vinod Aggarwal, President, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association (SIAM) & MD, Volvo Eicher Commercial Vehicles (VECV) said, “The 8.4% GDP growth in Q3 is far better than what everyone anticipated and gives a strong positive outlook for the country and the automotive industry. Looking at the overall numbers it is a positive indication of the strong fundamentals of macroeconomic growth in the country.”
Vinnie Mehta, Director General, Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA), stated that “In addition to the strong growth in GDP, the overall fundamentals of the economy and the policies and schemes of the government have been very consistent, benign and conducive. All of this points towards a robust future. The component industry’s growth is also determined on the performance of the automotive sales, which is expected to continue to grow for the coming years.”
What’s more, Manish Singhania, President, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), gave the example of the automotive retail sales in across segments in India, which is scaling new heights with each passing month.
“The automotive retail in India has been growing month-on-month and creating new records, which shows that the consumer sentiment is quite positive. We expect that the overall auto retail will grow by 5-7 percent in FY2024, with the passenger vehicle segment growing 5 percent, and higher single-digit growth for the two-wheeler segment. Going forward the expectation of a normal monsoon, and uptick in rural economy is expected to augur well for the industry.”
