Demonetisation halts auto sector growth, sales decline in Nov

The Dollar Business Bureau

The demonetisation has affected almost every sector in the country. The rapidly-growing automobile sector in India has witnessed a drop of around 5% in the month of November, the first in this year. 

All the vehicle segments posted a decline, be it commercial vehicles, two-wheelers, or three-wheelers. This was the sharpest decline in the past 3.5 years. The sector had last witnessed a drop of 7.75% in March 2013. However, in December 2015, the sector posted a drop, when the volumes declined by just 0.17%. 

According to the data by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), around 1.56 million units of vehicles were sold in the local market in November, a drop of 5.48% compared to 1.65 million units in the same month last year. 

Apart from the passenger vehicles, all the segments of automobile industry recorded a decline. Two-wheelers segment, the biggest in terms of volume, fell for the first time in the current fiscal, after posting a double-digit growth for several months. 

Within the two-wheelers segment, motorcycles were severely affected and posted a drop of more than 10%. In scooters, there is a decline of around 2%, a reverse trend after 3.5 years of growth. 

Other major segments of the industry also reported a double-digit decline in dispatches in November. Sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles declined over 13% while light commercial vehicles posted a drop of over 10%. Three wheelers posted a first decline in more than 12 months and drop 26% in the last month. 

However, passenger vehicles performed better compared to the rest of segments. But the growth of just 1.82% was the lowest in the past few months.