Wednesday, 09 Oct, 2024
By: Yash Gupte
One of the major reasons behind the increased production and sales of the passenger vehicles in the Indian domestic market is due to the festive season in the month of September. Image source: IANS
The important thing which needs to be marked in this case is that the passenger vehicle sales have scaled a new peak amid rising inflation in the country
As per the latest press release by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the car/passenger vehicle sales in the month of September 2022 have broken all the previous records and reached a new high of 3,07,389 in the previous month. A few day ago, India Tracker did a story on the record breaking production of four wheeler passenger vehicles in the country. India stands third in the global car selling market in the world. According to the most recent figures from the Organization Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles (OICA), the international trade organization comprising of 39 national automobile industry trade associations, India sold 36,31,095 passenger cars in 2021, compared to 30,96,165 in Germany. Passenger vehicle sales between July to September rose 38.4% to 1,026,309 units.
One of the major reasons behind the increased production and sales of the passenger vehicles in the Indian domestic market is due to the festive season in the month of September. Ganesh Chaturthi, Navratri and Onam were the prominent festivals celebrated in the previous month which boosted the consumer sentiment and resulted in massive increase in the sales of passenger vehicle sales in India. The important thing which needs to be marked in this case is that the passenger vehicle sales have scaled a new peak amid rising inflation in the country. The Reserve Bank of India has increased the repo rate more than 5 times in past few months as a measure to counter inflation, this has affected the lending of the commercial banks in the country as there has been an increase in the interest rate on loans given by the consumer banks to the customers. In spite of this trend, there has been an exponential rise in the sale of passenger vehicles in India.
Apart from the domestic sales of passenger vehicles, the production also increased by 88% to 3,72,126. The recently appointed president of SIAM Vinod Aggarwal said that, “Recent increase in the prices of CNG fuel, higher repo rates and the Russia-Ukraine conflict are of concern and could impact the market in the coming months.” But the data shows that in spite of these factors affecting the consumer, they have seemed to ignore these factors due to the onset of festive season. But the uncertainty still persists as inflation rises and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalates. Aggarwal further added that he is hopeful that the auto sector will perform well in the coming days due to festivals like Dussehra and Diwali.
Source: Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers
Though Nomura Financial Advisory and Securities (India), had estimated that the passenger vehicle sales are likely to cross 3.50 lakh units in September as they had expected strong sales helped by channel pre-festive filling, the sales didn’t cross the expected mark but crossed the mark of 3 lakh. According to Moody’s Investor Service, a relatively stronger macroeconomic environment, the easing of semiconductor shortages as well as restocking by dealers will help India outperform its regional and global peers in the automobile market.
Before September, the month of July had recorded the highest sale of passenger vehicles in India at 2,93,865. September has broken the record and reached a new high of 3,07,389. The lowest number of sale was witnessed in the month of May as only 2,51,052 units were sold. In September 2021, only 1,60,070 units of passenger vehicles were sold.
The top four best-selling automobiles in September came from the lineup of Maruti Suzuki, the largest manufacturer in the nation, demonstrating the company's continued dominance in the automotive market. Maruti Suzuki's top model portfolio comprises the Alto, WagonR, Baleno, and Brezza. Tata Nexon, Hyundai Creta, Maruti Suzuki Eeco, Tata Punch, Maruti Suzuki Swift, and Hyundai Venue were next in line.
