PV retail slumps 20 percent in September, FADA optimistic of a Diwali bonus

Unified automobile dealer body the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) has announced the sales figures for segment-wise registration of new vehicles in the month of September. As anticipated from the dismal state of the auto industry’s domestic market sales over the last 11 months, the performance isn’t noteworthy this time either.

Overall vehicle registrations saw a slump of 12.9 percent to 1,375,314 units (September 2018: 1,579,191), with PVs declining 20.1 percent to 157,972 units (197,653), CVs 18.5 percent t0 63,518 units (77,980) and two-wheelers coming down by 12.1 percent t0 1,098,271 units (1,248,998) in the month.

Interestingly, it was only the three-wheeler vehicle segment that showed some improvement with an uptick of 1.8 percent to 55,553 units (54,560). The continued heavy monsoon in major geographies and the inauspicious Shraddh period falling in the second and the third weeks of September also contributed to this sales lag, as per FADA.

According to FADA president, Ashish Harshraj Kale, “FADA believed September to be a transition month into positivity with continued monsoon and measures being announced by the government. However, retails were under pressure during the month and this de-growth was on expected lines.”

While the complete effect of the positive measures announced by the government was still not visible at the retail levels in the month of September, it is the auspicious  October which with its festivities of Navratri, Dussehra and  Diwali, is expected to have finally brought some ray of hope for the ailing industry.

“Overall improvement in sentiment and confidence can be seen across our members as retail liquidity eases and with improving sales, dealer liquidity will also soon see improvement. October will be a crucial month which will indicate the trends for H2 and measure the effects of an abundant monsoon and that of the various government measures taken to revive the sector.” added Kale.

While there are signs of a recovery in the form of improved buying in the festive season, FADA is advising its members to judiciously assess their retail condition and accordingly regulate their wholesale billing as demand continues to be in a dynamic state and they should adopt a cautious approach to not have leftover BS IV stock on April 1, 2020.