Truck rentals consolidated on trunk routes during last month of current fiscal (March) backed by a ₹1 a litre cumulative decline in diesel price during last seven-ten days, stated think tank Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT).

Rentals on many trunk routes did not change, went up by three per cent on some routes and declined by 1.5 per cent on some routes during the month, said IFTRT.

Apart from higher cargo availability, the improvement in truck rentals has also been driven by massive spending in election-bound States by political parties and hence created improved consumer spending leading to strong truck rentals across the country. Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi, Delhi-Guwahati-Delhi and Delhi-Chennai-Delhi saw an increase.

Oil PSUs seem to have put on hold further change in diesel price due to ongoing Assembly elections in five States of the country, reckoned the transport research body.

Cargo availability from factory gates has displayed 8-10 per cent jump in this month and import-export trade has zoomed by 50-55 per cent. Further, arrival of fruits and vegetables into APMCs has remained steady with the arrival of summer crops, stated IFTRT.

Heavy truck sales too have witnessed double digit decent growth in March 2021 over the same period last year due to low base effect and transporters trying to avail the benefit of input tax credit (ITC) under GST.

Truck rentals have shot up by 25-30 per cent since October 2020, pushed by high diesel and raw material costs.

According to IFTRT, the silver lining for the national state exchequer has been record mop up in collection of GST revenue to ₹1.28 lakh crore during March 2021 due to increased trade activity and more importantly, strict compliance of GST rules with strict check on issuance of e-way bills by traders and transporters in the country.

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