Bajaj Auto is the first vehicle manufacturer in India to release sales numbers for February 2021. The Pune-based two-wheeler OEM has reported total sales of 148,934 two-wheelers last month, up 1% year on year (February 2020: 146,876).

In comparison, the company’s exports are up 7% YoY to 183,629 units (February 2020: 163,346). They could have been more but for some supply chain issues. A few days, Rajiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Auto told Autocar Professional: “We are growing at over 50 percent but still losing production every month due to supply chain problems. This month (February 2021) we will lose, between domestic and exports, 6,000 KTMs because of shortage of semiconductors and ABS parts from Bosch.” As he put it, despite these obstacles, growth continues at 50-60 per cent “otherwise we would probably be growing at 100 per cent” in the premium range.  And as far as the problem of containers is concerned, there seems to be “no end in sight” at least for now.

The shortage of semiconductors, in particular, is a huge problem for automakers in India and across the world. The sooner it is solved, the better it is especially at a time when the entire auto industry is just about beginning to put its house in order all over again after the Covid-induced lockdowns last year.