Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), which sees a large part of its sales come from rural India, has reported sales of 16,698 passenger vehicles (comprising UVs, cars and vans), down 8.24 percent (December 2015: 18,197). This comes on the back of its November 2016 numbers which were down 33 percent year-on-year.

Commenting on the performance for December 2016, Pravin Shah, president and chief executive (Automotive), M&M, said, “The auto industry continues to go through challenging times, grappling with the short-term effects of demonetisation as well as reduced and postponed purchase decisions. However, we believe there will be a gradual pick-up in demand starting next few months. We do hope that the implementation of GST along with some right initiatives taken by the government in the upcoming Union Budget on February 1, will provide a veritable boost to the auto industry and the economy in general. I believe, this, coupled with stable fuel prices and reduced inflation and interest rates, will fuel the automotive industry’s growth going forward.”

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