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The automobile industry saw an exponential growth in sales, across all categories, in March, although on a low base effect due to the lockdown across the country in the same month last year.
During the month, in the passenger car segment, domestic wholesales grew 94 per cent year-on-year (YoY) to 1,56,985 compared to 80,727 units in March last year, a report by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said on Monday.
The utility segment grew 153 per cent to 1,22,350 units (48,291 units ). This led the total passenger vehicle sales to 2,90,939 units during the last month against 1,35,196 units in March 2020.
Also read: Compact SUVs continue to grow for five consecutive years: ICRA report
Three-wheeler sales went up 16 per cent YoY to 31,930 units (27,608 units).
In the two-wheeler segment, both motorcycles and scooters sales grew 74 per cent YoY. While scooter sales grew to 457,677 units (263,070 units), motorcycle sales went up to 9,93,996 units (5,70,858 units).
Total two-wheeler sales grew 73 per cent to 14,96,806 units (8,66,845 units).
The total of all categories rose 77 per cent to 18,19,682 units (10,29,518 units).
“A deep structural slowdown in the industry even before the pandemic, combined with the impact of Covid-19 in 2020-21, has pushed all vehicle segments back by many years. Recovery from here will require time and efforts, by all stakeholders. There is uncertainty in the value chain owing to semiconductors, lockdowns and raw material. In an environment of uncertainty, instead of trying to predict the future, we will all work hard to create it,” Kenichi Ayukawa, President, SIAM, said.
The automobile industry continues to work hard, amidst the challenges of the Covid second wave, to maximise production and sales, while ensuring safety of its people, partners and customers, he added.
But on a yearly basis, during 2020-21, passenger vehicle wholesales declined 2.24 per cent to 27,11,457 units against 27,73,519 units in 2019-20.
Two-wheeler dispatches declined 13 per cent to 1,51,19,387 units (1,74,16,432 units).
Commercial vehicle sales
Total commercial vehicles sales declined by around 21 per cent to 5,68,559 units (7,17,593 units), the SIAM report said. Three-wheelers dispatches also saw a drop of 66 per cent in the 2020-21 fiscal at 2,16,197 unitsagainst 6,37,065 units in 2019-20.
Vehicle sales across categories declined by around 14 per cent to 1,86,15,588 units (2,15,45,551 units).
Rajesh Menon, Director-General, SIAM, said in the last fiscal there was a degrowth in sales of all segments compared to the previous years.
“If we look at the fourth quarter January-March 2021 sales which might include some deferred sales from previous quarters, only passenger vehicle segment at 9.34 lakh sales was marginally above the previous high of January-March 2018 period at 8.62 lakh units,” Menon said.
Commercial vehicles sales at 2.1 lakh in January-March period of 2021 were below 2.82 lakh in January-March period of 2018, Menon added.
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