In a year where the automotive segments in the country are stuttering, the robust export growth has provided cheer and solace to vehicle manufacturers across all categories. 

All segments of the automotive segment are expected to end the fiscal with strong growth over the previous fiscal. Export volumes of two-wheelers are expected to be higher than the numbers of FY20, which was a strong year for auto exports.

Though the passenger vehicle manufacturers have been faced with the challenge of ramping up production to serve the surge in demand in the post-Covid period due to shortage of chips, their shipments to various markets were not affected to that extent. Most of the PV makers have seen a big rise in their exports during this fiscal. 

Record shipments by Maruti Suzuki

With its highest-ever exports in February 2022, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, India’s largest PV exporter now, is expected to end this fiscal with record shipments. 

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“In terms of exports, this year has been exceptional for Maruti Suzuki with over 2.11 lakh vehicles already shipped. For the last two years, Maruti Suzuki has been making sustained efforts to increase export volumes. The initiatives included the introduction of new products, entry into new markets and distributor network expansion,” Rahul Bharti, Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd told BusinessLine. 

Hyundai Motor India, the second-largest PV exporter, has reported a more than 30 per cent rise in export of its ‘Made in India’ PVs at 1.19 lakh units this fiscal. Other leading exporters include Kia Motors, Volkswagen, which has exported more PVs than its sales in the Indian market (during 10 months), and Nissan. 

Despite the boom in PV exports, the total shipments this fiscal, at about 5.5 lakh units, will be less than the annual export volumes of about 6.7 lakh units achieved in FY20 and FY19.  

Two-wheeler exports

However, the export story is different in the two-wheeler industry, where the exports are hitting record levels with a significant increase in shipments of companies like Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor. 

In FY20 and FY19, two-wheeler exports stood at 3.5 million units and 3.3 million units respectively. But in this fiscal (for the 10 months), the total two-wheeler exports have already crossed 3.7 million units and is expected to touch about 4.4 million units given the current trend. For the first time, TVS Motor’s export volumes crossed the one million mark this fiscal. Bajaj, the largest two-wheeler exporter, has clocked export volumes of more than two million units for the 11 months of this fiscal. 

Africa and Latin America are driving exports for two-wheelers as well as passenger vehicles and we feel the potential is higher. Based on our preliminary interactions with a few two-wheeler OEMs, we also get a sense that had the semiconductor issue not prevailed for such a long time the growth in two-wheeler exports from India could have been much higher. We believe exports will stay stronger going forward too,” said Hemal Thakkar, Director, CRISIL Research. 

Three-wheeler exports have also seen a big rise and the total shipments are estimated at 5 lakh-plus units for FY22. In FY19, three-wheelers were strong at 5.68 lakh units. Though details on commercial vehicle exports are not available, the shipments have seen double-digit growth for companies like Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and VE Commercial Vehicles during this fiscal. 

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