A year after DeMo bump, Motown sales vroom 24% in November

The sales of automobiles showed an impressive growth across segments in the month of November due to a low base as the year-ago period had witnessed demonetisation of high-value currency notes.

The cumulative vehicle sales across categories registered a rise of 24.05% during November in comparison to the corresponding period last year.

Vishnu Mathur, director general of industry lobby group Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM), said during a media interaction, "We had demonetisation last November. So, we have grown on a pretty low base of the same period last year. Also, heavy discounting plays a role during this period."

The note ban announced in November affected the industry for several weeks, hitting demand as a significant percentage of purchases in semi-urban and rural areas are made in cash.

As per the statistics from automotive companies and SIAM, the passenger vehicle (PV) sales in India rose 14.29% on year to 275,417 units last month, helped by robust demand for utility vehicles as well as discounts. Car sales increased 4.49% to 181,395 units.

Sridhar V, partner, Grant Thornton India, said, "The performance of the OEM’s (original eqipment manufacturers) across categories though commendable will also have to be seen in the light of the performance in November 2016, a low base at the back of demonetisation. Having said that, the OEMs have still shown growth which is closer to the highest average monthly sales in the previous financial year.”

With the overall automobile sales, including PVs, commercial vehicles (CVs) and two-wheelers recording a 9.29% growth during the April-November period this fiscal, SIAM expects the overall industry growth to be around 8-10% during the current financial year. "If it happens (8-10% growth), it would be the best growth over the last six financial years," Sen added.

In the PV segment, Maruti Suzuki India posted a growth of 14.32% at 144,297 units, while rival Hyundai Motor India saw 9.98% growth at 44,008 units.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) also posted an increase of 21.66% at 15,990 units. Homegrown rival Tata Motors saw a growth of 38.14% at 18,832 units in November this year.

Total two-wheeler sales in November rose 23.49% to 1,535,277 units compared to 1,243,246 units in the year-ago month. Motorcycle sales increased by 23.25% to 959,122 units. Market leader Hero MotoCorp posted domestic sales of 510,749 units as against 414,709 units in the year-ago month, up 23.15%. Rival Bajaj Auto saw its bike sales rise 1.56% to 141,948 units. Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India's (HMSI) sales rose 56.13% to 150,420 units.

In the scooters segment, total sales last month were at 506,267 units, up 30.25%. Segment leader HMSI posted sales of 281,704 units as against 203,076, up 38.71%, while Chennai-based TVS Motor Co had sales of 76,084 units, a 9.06% jump. Hero MotoCorp's scooter sales were at 77,783 units last month as against 53,410, up 45.63% from last year.

Sales of commercial vehicles, which is witnessing a cyclic revival in recent times, witnessed an increase of 50.43% to 68,846 units. "Goods carrier segment and trucks have grown mainly on enhanced spending by the government on infrastructure projects. However, bus segment remains impacted as government buying remains on a slow pace," Mathur continued.

On the outlook, Sridhar said, “While one can see some ups and downs in the current year the story is that the growth is perceivable and venturing into a stabilising environment amid the rumble and tumble of various policy measures faced during the year. Movement towards mid-size feature filled sedans and premium two-wheelers apart from growth in scooter segment is visible and is a reflection of the customer transitioning and contribution from rural growth. Commercial vehicles sales shows a stabilising trend."

(With inputs from PTI)