India: Domestic Vehicle Sales Plunge Amid COVID-19
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India's automobile industry witnessed one of its sharpest decline in domestic sales in Mar'20 due to subdued demand and consumer sentiments which was further aggravated by the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
Domestic sales data released by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM)
| Vehicles (in units) | Mar'19 | Mar'20 | Y-o-Y (%) |
| Passenger Vehicles | 291,861 | 143,014 | -51% |
| Commercial Vehicles | 1,09,022 | 13,027 | -88% |
| Three-Wheelers | 66,274 | 27,608 | -58% |
| Two-Wheelers | 1,440,593 | 866,849 | -40% |
Total sales across categories declined by 45% last month against Mar'19.
According to the President of SIAM, Rajan Wadhera, the month of March 2020 was one of the most challenging months for the auto sector as the 21-day lockdown resulted in bringing the production and sales of vehicles to a standstill in the last week. The OEMs struggled on meeting fixed cost and working capital requirements as the revenues took a severe hit. As per our estimates at SIAM, the auto industry is losing Rs 2,300 crore in production turnover for every day of closure.
Underlining a persistent slowdown in demand and triggering fresh calls for government action to revive the sector on policy measures to minimize the impact of COVID-19 on the Indian economy especially the domestic automobile industry.
However, to bring back the growth in this sector, challenges on supply, demand and the issue of availability of finance needs to be addressed, he added.
~ By Nikita Baid
