Monday, September 19, 2011
By Pranjal Gera
Owning a car becomes even more costlier
The dream of owning a car and running it is becoming more and more scary for people of India. More aptly said, it is becoming a nightmare for Indian people. The rising petrol prices and the increasing interest rates for loans is breaking the back bone of car owners as well as the potential buyers. The common man is finding it difficult to cope up with these high climbing rates.
The Reserve bank of India and the government are competing over the price hikes. The government has once again increased the prices of petrol by Rs. 3.14. This is the tenth time in a year Indian government has raised petrol's prices. Before this recent price hike, the government raised petrol's prices by Rs. 5 in the month of May. Since December, the prices of petrol have risen by Rs. 13.58.
The oil companies, which are owned by state governments, are blaming it on the rising crude oil prices and depreciating Indian currency. The Indian Rupee has gone down to 49 for a dollar, which is the lowest of past two years.
But this is not the only reason car owners are worried about. The Reserve Bank of India has also raised its rates by 25 basis points, which would result in increased loan rates. The EMI people pay against their loans, will go up soon. The Reserve Bank of India raised its rates by 50 basis points in July. Hence, the banks raised their loan lending interest rates from 10.25 percent to 10.75 percent, in August. All these factors are severly affecting the automobile market, as the biggest automobile companies have registered a fall in sales of their cars.
