Significant growth in India’s CV & 2-wheeler exports in Q1, passenger vehicles segment sluggish

Autocar Professional recently reported about low commodity prices urging carmakers to increase production and stock up on inventory despite very limited increases in the domestic market sales. SIAM’s quarterly report on the state of the Indian automotive industry, however, does indicate a 9.2% year-on-year increase in quarterly exports, with monthly exports increasing by 16.5% in June 2015, compared to June 2014. In absolute terms, 315,800 vehicles were exported from the country in June 2015, which pushed the cumulative quarterly exports number up to 915,895 units.

Within the individual segments, passenger vehicles’ (PV) exports remained relatively flat for the quarter ended June, growing only 0.75% year-on-year to 142,374 units. Although Hyundai Motor India continued to be the country’s largest exporter of passenger vehicles, its quarterly figures indicated a 7.9% year-on-year drop to 43,732 units. Maruti Suzuki India, in its pursuit of becoming the country’s largest PV exporter, ended the quarter with 35,611 units exported, a commendable 21.7% increase from the same quarter in 2014. On the monthly front, exports declined 21.7% in June 2015 compared to that in the same month last year, a likely contributor being the withdrawal of the 2% subsidy that carmakers used to receive when exporting to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

CV exports up

Unlike the PV segment which was a mixed bag for the industry, exports in the commercial vehicles (CV) segment increased by about 26% compared to the April-June period last year. This, coupled with the increase in demand from the domestic market on the back of a governmental push to the mining and infrastructure industries, led to a substantial increase in the production of CVs. Within the exports domain, Tata Motors continued its surge, registering a 38.5% year-on-year growth in quarterly exports. Its count of 12,863 units exported in the April-June quarter was more than double that of its closest competitor in this space, Mahindra & Mahindra, which exported 6,082 commercial vehicles, an increase of 27.7% from the same quarter last year.

While the 3-wheeler segment saw domestic sales plummet due to increasing competition from small commercial vehicles, strong demand from emerging markets resulted in quarterly exports going up by 40% (year-on-year). The two biggest players, Bajaj Auto and TVS Motor Company, combined, exported 114,057 units out of the total 122,410 3-wheelers exported during the quarter ended June 2015. While Bajaj Auto reported a year-on-year growth in quarterly exports of 50.3% to 87,079 units, TVS Motor Company’s tally stood at 26,978 units, an increase of 28.3%. In February 2014, Egypt, one of the largest export markets for the Indian 3-wheeler industry, had imposed a ban on the import of 3-wheelers, severely affecting the Indian manufacturers. The ban was lifted in the second half of May, providing a much needed thrust to the industry.

With 627,489 units exported during the quarter, the 2-wheelers segment provided about 69% of the total export volume (in terms of units) to the Indian automotive industry. The segment saw quarterly exports increase by 6.2% year-on-year. Bajaj Auto, the country’s largest exporter of 2-wheelers, witnessed sluggish growth with quarterly exports increasing 1.4% year-on-year to 389,417 units. Compared to June 2014, however, the manufacturer exported 16.1% more units in June 2015. Notably, Hero MotoCorp pipped Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) as the country’s second largest exporter of 2-wheelers, going by the quarterly numbers. While Hero MotoCorp reportedly exported 45,301 units in the quarter, a growth of 23.6% year-on-year, HMSI exported 42,501 units, corresponding to a growth of 8.7%.