There is no relief in the Indian automobile sector as the sales for the passenger vehicles fell by 23.69 per cent, whereas the commercial sales plunged by 62.11 per cent, stated the SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) data for the month of September on Friday.
The data shows that the vehicular sales slumped for the 11th straight consecutive month, a time when the sector is facing its worst slowdown in decades.
As per the SIAM data, the passenger vehicle wholesale stood at 2,23,317 units in September against sales of 2,92,660 exactly a year ago. The passenger car sales were down by 33.4 percent to 131,281 units, and the utility vehicles’ sales were dropped by 5.49 per cent at 81625 units.
Low in vehicular demand has resulted in this massive slowdown in the automobile sector of the country. The decreasing sales percentage has created a fear of massive job loss, which employees over 3.5 crore people directly and indirectly.
In order to cope with the crisis, companies have started declaring non-working days or ‘forced-leave’ without pay. This is being done to reduce the production of vehicles in the factories. These companies include brands like, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland.
The SIAM data shows that the production of the commercial vehicles was down by 72.07 per cent in September against the same month in the last year.
When it comes to the sales of the two-wheelers, its sales were fell by 22 per cent in the last month. The data showed a year-on-year fall of 23.29 per cent in sales of motorcycles to 10,43,624 units. Whereas the scooter was marked at 16.60 per cent low to 5,55,829 units.
Overall, the total vehicle sales were plunged by 22.41 per cent at 20,04,932 units in September 2019 as against sales of 25,84,062 in the year-ago month.
(With input from agencies)