The continued economic slowdown has offered no respite to the medium, heavy and light commercial vehicle manufacturer (M&HCV & LCV) Ashok Leyland Ltd.
The company has seen an 18 per cent drop in sales in Medium and HCV products and 11 per cent fall in sales in LCV segment during October 2013 compared to the same period last year.
Total vehicle sales had dropped 21 per cent in the first seven months of the current fiscal compared to the corresponding period (April-October) last year.
In its filings with the stock exchanges today, Ashok Leyland said it had sold 4,093 Medium and HCV vehicles during last month against 4,964 vehicles in October 2012, a decline of 18 per cent.
In the LCV segment in which it has Dost and the recently launched Stile models, the company sold 2,710 units in October 2013 against 3,033 units in October 2012, a fall of 11 per cent. While the sale of Medium and HCVs were down 25 per cent during April-October this fiscal, the LCV segment suffered a 12 per cent dent in sales.
In terms of total sales of the M&HCV and LCV models, the sales were down 15 per cent in October this year compared to the same month last year.
Cumulative sales
On a cumulative basis, in the first seven months of the current fiscal, the company sold 51,644 vehicles compared with 65,321 vehicles in April-October 2012, marking a 21 per cent decline in sales.
Ashok Leyland shares shrugged off the disappointing sales figures and have bounced back from the day's low of Rs 17.50 to trade at Rs 18.60, up by 55 paise, at around 11.35 a.m. on the BSE.