Tuesday, April 14, 2020
By Manoj Kumawat
Automobile Industry Sales Decline By 49% In March 2020
With the whole country undergoing the lockdown since March 24, 2020, it has started showing its impacts on different industries. The lockdown has affected both the sales and manufacturing of the products and the auto industry is one such industry that has started witnessing its results. According to the recent sales statistics revealed by the auto industry, there has been a decline of 44.95 percent in the overall sales during March 2020. The total sales during March were 10, 50,367 units as against 19, 08, 097 units sold during the same period last year. The sales of passenger vehicles have also declined up to 51 percent, this year 1,43, 861 units of passenger vehicles were sold during March 2020, while 2,91, 861 units were sold during the same month. The sales of cars decline 52.12% whereas the sale of utility vehicles has recorded a decline of 44.67 %.
The period of almost last and a half year has already been not good for the auto industry. The overall sales during the Financial Year 2019-20 recorded a decline of 17.96 percent. The total number of vehicles sold during the year was 2,15, 48, 494 whereas the number of vehicles sold during the FY 2018-19 was 2,62,66,179 units. The passenger vehicle segment recorded a decline of 17.82 percent while the two-wheelers segment has witnessed a decline of 17.76 percent.
The same type of decline has noticed by all the segments representing the industry.
Commenting on the reason of decline in the sales Mr. Rajan Wadhera, President- SIAM said, "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. As the revenues took a severe hit, the OEMs struggled on meeting fixed cost and working capital requirements. The Industry was already reeling under severe de-growth and the pressure of disrupted supply chain, which was followed by a majority of the auto companies announcing a shutdown of their manufacturing units in the last week of March 2020, due to concerns over ensuring workplace safety & health of their employees. As per our estimates at SIAM, Auto industry is losing Rs 2,300 crore in production turnover for every day of closure”.
