Indian passenger car registrations in Oct contradict automakers’ claims of sales growth

Tuesday, 10 November 2020 16:35:29 (GMT+3)   |   Kolkata
       

Some doubt has been cast on India’s apparent revival in its domestic automobile industry in October this year with the sharp divergence emerging between dispatches by passenger car manufacturers and retail sales by dealers, data sourced from the industry show.

Contrary to global practice, Indian passenger car manufacturers treat dispatches to retailers as ‘sales’, while car distributors treat dealers’ transactions as sales.

Based on this, various domestic passenger car manufacturers have reported strong growth in dispatches in October, but data provided by the Federation of Automobile Dealers’ Association (FADA) indicate an actual fall in passenger car registrations by 24 percent in the given month to 1,413,549 units from the corresponding month of the previous year.

FADA has in fact communicated with passenger car manufacturers to ease dispatches of products to dealers in view of falling sales, even as manufacturers record growth in terms of dispatches of units to dealers.

According to the data compiled by FADA, the country’s largest passenger car manufacturer in terms of market share, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), dispatched 172,862 units in October but aggregate retail sales by dealers was 124,261 units, indicating a stock pile-up at the retail end.

India’s second largest passenger car manufacturer Hyundai Motors India Limited (HMIL) dispatched 56,605 units in October but aggregate sales by all dealers was 42,757 units, according to FADA.

 “We have been saying month after month that the ground situation of actual sales is not as buoyant as is being conveyed by manufacturers. No doubt there has been a slight uptick in sales due to the festive season, but it is nowhere near last year’s level,” FADA president Vinkesh Gulati said.


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