Passenger car sales inched up in November: SIAM

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SME Times News Bureau | 09 Dec, 2016
Sales of passenger cars rose 0.29 per cent in November to 173,606 units from 173,111 units in the corresponding month last year, industry data showed on Thursday.

The passenger car sales had risen 0.45 per cent in October to 195,036 units.

The utility vehicles' off-take surged in the month under review by 10.07 per cent to 53,800 units, whereas van sales were down 7.50 per cent to 13,573 units.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the total passenger vehicle sales, which includes cars, utility vehicles and vans, rose by just 1.82 per cent to 240,979 units last month.

The total passenger vehicle sales in October rose by 4.48 per cent to 280,677 units last month.

The industry data revealed that sales of overall commercial vehicles decreased by 11.58 per cent. The segment is a key indicator of economic activity.

The commercial vehicles segment's off-take for November 2016 was 45,773 units.

Three-wheelers sales logged decline by 25.90 per cent to 33,662 units last month.

Overall, sales of two-wheelers, which include scooters, motorcycles and mopeds, declined by 5.85 per cent to 1,243,251 units.

Product-wise, scooter sales in the month under review slipped by 1.85 per cent to 388,692 units, while the motorcycle sub-segment sales logged a decline of 10.21 per cent to 778,178 units.

Besides, mopeds' off-take zoomed by 32.07 per cent to 76,381 units.

Nevertheless, the overall exports across categories rose a tad by 3.42 per cent to 285,462 units which were shipped out during last month.

Total automobile sales in November were lower by 5.48 per cent to 1,563,665 units.

According to experts, demonetisation has had a significant negative impact on the November automobile sales across all segments.

"Demonetisation has impacted the sales of vehicles across segments, significantly on the sales of commercial vehicles, two wheelers and large SUVs. The sales figures of November do not reflect this as it is inclusive of the sales from OEM (original equipment manufacturer) to dealers," said Abdul Majeed, Partner- Price Waterhouse.

"However, the negative impact in retail sales will be seen in the coming months and the two wheelers, commercial vehicles and SUVs will see a significant de-growth in the short term."

Majeed noted that OEMs have been using several instruments to support sales like 'fully financing of vehicles purchase' and providing 'discounts', but these are not sufficient to boost the customer sentiments.

As per Sridhar V, Partner, Grant Thornton India, the performance over the next couple of months would reveal the actual impact of demonetisation.

"The expected rate cut also did not happen and could prolong the pain for the short term. However, the cumulative growth in the current year is close to 12.5 per cent across segments for April-Nov 2016 with only the sales of M&HCV is in the red currently," Sridhar said.

"One should expect the OEM and dealers to find innovative means to arrest the slide, since most other factors enabling growth remain the same."