India passenger car sales up 14 percent in June

It’s the best piece of news in a while for the Indian auto sector, heralding the start of acche din. . .  

A day ahead of the first Narendra Modi government Union Budget, apex industry body SIAM has said that domestic passenger car sales have increased 14.76 percent to 160,232 units in June 2014 as compared to 139,624 units in June 2013. While utility vehicle sales rose 6.90 percent to 43,849 units (June 2013: 41,018), sales of vans dipped 8.31 percent to 14,747 units (June 2013:16,084).

Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India and Honda Cars India led the June 2014 sales surge which is being attributed to the fact that the reduced excise duty announced in the February 2014 interim Budget was to end by June 30. The new government has extended this sop for another six months, a decision that has been welcomed whole-heartedly by the auto sector.

The two-wheeler segment, which has been the bulwark of the Indian automobile sector for the past year and a half, posted 13 percent growth in June 2014, selling a total of 1,261,589 units. The ever-growing scooter market saw handsome growth of 25.15 percent to 323,178 units (June 2013: 258,223) while motorcycle sales grew 9.63 percent to 876,196 units (June 2013: 799,254).

Sales of commercial vehicles were down 9.03 percent to 51,119 units last month in June albeit the decline is a little less compared to sales earlier this year. Total M&HCV sales are down 2.10 percent to 18,414 units and LCVs down 12.52 percent to 32,705 units.

Seen overall, sales across vehicle categories in June 2014 registered an increase of 12.15 percent to 15,78,884 units from 14,07,875 units in June 2013. This comes on the back of overall growth of 6.96 percent in April 2014 and 13.22 percent in May 2014.

In Q1, 2014 (April-June 2014), total industry sales have risen 10.78 percent to 4,846,793 units. While the passenger car segment has risen 2.24 percent (444,242 units), UVs have seen an increase of 3.93 percent (128,796 units). Three-wheelers are also in positive territory in the first quarter with a growth of 11.64 percent (121,319 units). Two-wheeler sales notch 13.70 percent growth (3,968,967 units). The beleaguered CV sector though sees a 16.13 percent fall in sales in Q1 (141,185 units), but sales have begun to pick up.

Meanwhile, in its reaction to the Railway Budget announced yesterday, SIAM has said that the provisions of the Budget may make OEs opt to consider transporting their vehicles by train. SIAM said that the proposals for better port connectivity and setting up of private freight terminals will benefit the auto sector.