Top carmakers’ sales rise 12% in March
RURAL BOOST Volume growth beats analysts’ expectations as demand from nonmetro regions rebounds strongly
India’s top car makers reported an 11.72% growth in sales in March, boosted by strong semi-urban and rural demand. The top five passenger car makers—Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, Hyundai Motor India Ltd, Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd, Tata Motors Ltd, and Toyota Kirloskar Motor Pvt. Ltd—sold 240,850 units during the month, up from 215,576 units a year ago.
Auto makers in India count dispatches to dealerships as sales. It is typically observed in March that auto firms dispatch more to their dealerships in a bid to liquidate unsold stock before closing accounts for the fiscal year.
Volume growth marginally surpassed analysts’ expectations as demand from non-metro geographies rebounded strongly post the low of demonetization, an analyst said.
“Since the past two to three quarters, we have seen significant traction coming back from the rural markets. They will continue to drive volumes ahead,” said Subrata Ray, senior vicepresident and group head (corporate sector ratings) at Icra Ltd.
However, if one looks at company-wise data, sales growth has been markedly stark this month.
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country’s largest passenger car Companies
Maruti Hyundai Mahindra Tata Motors Toyota Honda
Ford Mar 2018 (volumes)
1,33,481 48,009 26,555 20,266 12,539 13,574 9,016 Year-on-year growth
(in %)
15.01 7.27 4.04 31.32 -9.11 -28.37 3.63
maker, reported a 15.01% jump in sales from a year earlier to 133,481 units, led by growth across segments. The utility vehicle (UV) segment led the way with a 24.3% jump to 22,764; driven by sales of Companies
Hero MotoCorp
Honda Motorcycles Bajaj Royal Enfield Suzuki Mar 2018 (volumes)
7,30,473 4,17,336
3,15,765 1,58,987
74,209 46,858 Year-on-year growth
(in %)
19.76 23.16
25.81 4.98
26.75 30.15
Vitara Brezza and S-Cross models. Sales of old workhorses Alto and WagonR rose 21.1% to 37,511 units while the compact car segment comprising the Baleno, Swift and Ignis hatchbacks also boosted sales with a 13.5% rise over the year ago to 68,885 units.
Maruti has sustained a positive growth trend during the month, as it has during the fiscal, on the back of well-planned model launches that helped take its market share over 50% this fiscal, said an analyst on condition of anonymity.
“No other OEM (original equipment manufacturer) has been able to time and understand the Indian car buyer like Maruti has,” this analyst added.
Hyundai, the maker of the Creta SUV, clocked 48,009 units in sales, a 7.27% rise over the year ago, on the back of strong models such as the Verna sedan and Creta. The local subsidiary of the South Korean automaker posted its highest-ever domestic volumes at 5,36,241 units, a growth of 5.2% during this fiscal.
Sales at Mahindra came in at 26,555 units, a 4.04% rise over the year ago. Rajan Wadhera, president of the automotive division at M&M, is confident of increasing market share in the UV segment on the back of three “critical” launches lined up during fiscal year 2019. During fiscal year 2018, the Mumbai-based auto conglomerate sold 549,154 cars, an 8.2% rise over the year ago, selling over 500,000 units after a gap of five years, the company said in a press release on Monday.
Tata Motors posted a 31.3% rise in sales to 20,266 units during the month on the back of increasing demand for SUVs Nexon and Hexa as the utility vehicle segment grew by 223%, showing a trend of growing customer base for the segment, the company said in a press release on Sunday.
Demand was also driven by the Tiago hatchback and Tigor compact sedan, but the overall passenger car segment declined by 4%, the company added.
E -way bill, the electronic document required for movement of goods under the goods and services tax (GST) regime, was off to a successful start with more than 6.47 lakhs such documents generated till 12pm on the second working day of its implementation.
The rollout of e-way bill without any glitches came as a relief to businesses which were fearing trade disruptions.
With the successful rollout of the e-way bill, a key anti-evasion measure under GST is now in place. The government is hoping that this will help in boosting tax revenue.
Initially, e-way bill was made mandatory for all inter-state movement of goods valued above ₹50,000 from February 1. However, the information technology network was unable to cope with the load, leading to long delays in the generation of e-way bills and forcing the government to defer the rollout to April 1.
“GST revenues will pick up further as more compliances come in. E-way bill will help in checking tax evasion,” said finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia. Though the central and state governments are giving taxpayers time to adjust to the new mechanism, tax authorities will begin checking trucks soon.
The government has been fearing massive tax evasion under GST after it postponed anti-evasion measures such as the e-way bill, matching of invoices of buyers and sellers and a reverse charge mechanism wherein the large registered buyers have to pay tax on behalf of small unregistered sellers.
Adhia added that tax authorities have started the crackdown on tax evaders. Mint reported last week that the directorate general of GST intelligence had unearthed evasion amounting to ₹440 crore in a pan-India operation.
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