Mahindra & Mahindra sales fall 6% in January

Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra reported six per cent decline in total sales at 39,930 units in January.

It had sold 42,685 units in the same month last year, the company said in a statement.

M&M's domestic sales declined by eight per cent to 37,045 units last month as against 40,324 units a year earlier.

Sales of passenger vehicles, including Scorpio, XUV 500, Xylo, Bolero and Verito stood at 18,804 units as compared to 19,792 units in January 2014, down five per cent.

Four-wheeler commercial vehicle sales fell 14% to 12,919 units last month as against 15,100 units in year-ago month, M&M said.

Exports were up 22% at 2,885 units from 2,361 units in the same period a year earlier.

M&M Chief Executive (Automotive Division) Pravin Shah said: "The first month of 2015 has not been encouraging as the effect of the withdrawal of excise duty subsidy is clearly evident."

"Unfortunately, the segmented recovery which we were witnessing over the last couple of months has been impacted with the excise duty change."

The company hopes that the upcoming Budget will have some positive news for the auto sector, he added.