Hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, commercial vehicle (CV) sales in India fell nearly 21 per cent in fiscal year 2020-21, while sales of passenger vehicles declined 2 per cent.
Total CV sales declined 20.77 per cent to 5,68,559 units in FY21 as against 7,17,593 units in 2019-20, as per the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). PV sales fell 2.24 per cent to 27,11,457 units in FY21 from 27,73,519 units in 2019-20.
Similarly, total two-wheeler dispatches during the last fiscal by companies to their respective dealer partners declined 13.19 per cent to 1,51,19,387 units as compared with 1,74,16,432 units in 2019-20. Three-wheeler sales plunged 66.06 per cent to 2,16,197 units in 2020-21 as against 6,37,065 units in 2019-20.
Vehicle sales across categories declined 13.6 per cent to 1,86,15,588 units as against 2,15,45,551 units in the year-ago period.
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The auto sector was already going through a slowdown when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. A stringent nationwide lockdown from March 25 last year to curb the spread of coronavirus infections led to auto companies not selling a single vehicle in April last year.
“On the sales front, a deep structural slowdown in the industry even before the pandemic, combined with the impact of COVID-19 in 2020-21, has pushed all vehicle segments back by many years. Recovery from here will require time and efforts by all stakeholders,” SIAM President Kenichi Ayukawa said.
SIAM cited past data to say that the pandemic was not the only reason for the slowdown in auto sector. It said the sector is facing deeper structural issues which require attention.
(With inputs from PTI)
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