New Delhi, Oct 10 (IANS) The Society of India Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Wednesday cut passenger car sales forecast to one-three percent for the current financial year owing to high inflationary pressure and weak macro-economic conditions.
Three months earlier, the industry association had projected that the segment would grow by 9-11 percent and before that to about 10-12 percent.
“We see that increasing inflationary pressures have impacted the first time car buyers. There is also an economic slowdown. All this has negatively affected the buyers sentiment. This is a matter of concern but in a long run India’s car market growth will be one of the strongest in the world,” S. Sandilya, SIAM president, told IANS here.
According to SIAM, passenger car sales declined by 0.27 percent during the April-September period and stood at 909,972 units from 912,455 units in the like period of the previous financial year.
During the April-June period, passenger car sales grew 5.22 percent to 490,802 units, compared to 466,452 during the like period of the previous financial year.
Sales of utility vehicles grew by 55.83 percent in the April-September period and stood at 255,895 units from 164,209 units sold in the like period of 2011-12.
The total vehicles sales during the period under review stood at 8,694,152 units, up 3.62 percent against 8,390,808 units in the like period an year ago.
The total vehicles sales during April-June stood at 44,74,627 units, up 9.94 percent against 40,69,995 units in the like period of 2011-12.
Two-wheeler sales rose 3.12 percent to 6,779,219 units during the period from April-September 6,574,338 units in the corresponding period last year.
While motorcycle sales during the quarter under review dwindled 0.79 percent to 4,970,590 units. However, scooter sales had a growth of 20.46 percent to 1,422,047 units in the period under review.
Overall automobile exports declined 5.96 percent during the last quarter at 1,450,907 units.
