Automobile retail sales in India rose 12 per cent year-on-year to 42,88,248 units in the 42-day-long festive period this year, dealer's body FADA said on Friday. The overall automotive registrations in the festive period of the last year stood at 38,37,040 units.
"We had seen a very encouraging rise in numbers from day one of Navratri and were almost close to our target of 42.88 lakh of two, three and four-wheelers that were registered during this period showing an increase of 11.76 percent over last year's 38.37 lakh units," FADA president CS Vigneshwar said.
Passenger vehicle retail increased by 7 per cent to 6,03,009 units in the festive period this year against 5,63,059 units in the same period last year. Pent-up demand and never-before discounts helped regain lost momentum, said Vigneshwar, adding that passenger vehicles bounced back after a lull.
"While celebrating these achievements, we do accept that we would have achieved or even surpassed our target of 45 lakh units if not for the unseasonal heavy rains in South India, particularly in Bengaluru and Tamil Nadu, and Cyclone Dana hitting Odisha,"
Passenger vehicle inventory will come down even more. However, since the entire picture of inventory will be clear by the end of the month, we need to take it with some pinch of salt, said Vigneshwar. Two-wheeler registrations grew by 14 per cent year-on-year at 33,11,325 units over the 42-day period this year against 29,10,141 units last year. Two-wheeler sales primarily attributed to good rural demand, said Vigneshwar.
The festive period this year stretched from Navratri to 15 days after Dhanteras because of the time lag in registering a vehicle, Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations said.
During the period, commercial vehicle retails increased 1 per cent year-on-year to 1,28,738 units.
Three-wheeler sales, however, grew 7 per cent to 1,59,960 units during the festive period this year.
However, tractor sales registered a year-over-year decline of 2 per cent to 85,216 units from 86,640 units the same period last year.
Given one and a half months remaining before the calendar year closes, FADA asks OEMs to liquidate the remaining stock of 2024 so that dealers enter 2025 with an ideal 21 days' inventory, Vigneshwar said.
"Looking ahead, the auto industry is yet to fully benefit from a government push in infrastructure spending, which we expect will bolster commercial vehicle sales," he noted. In addition, tractors should perform well, supported by good rainfall and the government's hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of crops, putting more money into farmers' hands, he added.
FADA said the retail sales number of the vehicle is collated from 1,368 out of 1,430 RTOs in the country.
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