Exports of passenger vehicle drop 1.51%; two-wheelers up 20% in FY18

The Dollar Business Bureau

With focus of the industry shifting towards domestic market and lasting impact of GST refunds on exporters, the passenger vehicle exports from India dropped by 1.51% in 2017-18, witnessing a dip for the first time in the past seven years.

In 2017-18 fiscal, 7.47 lakh units of passenger vehicles were exported as against 7.58 lakh units in the previous fiscal, as per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

“This is the first decline in exports of passenger vehicles since 2010-11 when it declined 0.41%,” said Sugato Sen, Deputy Director General, SIAM.

Citing the the reasons behind the decline in passenger vehicles export, Sen said that some key exporters have shifted their focus on the domestic market.

In addition, the exporters are still struggling with the issue of Goods and Services Tax (GST) refunds, he said.

“The auto industry has a total of around Rs.1,000 crore pending refund,” he added.

Hyundai Motor India, used to be the top passenger vehicles exporter, recorded a drop of 7.39% in outbound shipments, at 1,53,942 units, in 2017-18.

Similarly, other major exporters such as Nissan Motors India and Honda Cars India posted a decline of 38.03% and 3.21% respectively. Nissan exported at 67,829 units and Honda exported 5,611 units in the last fiscal year.

Tata Motors exported 2,587 units of passenger vehicles during the fiscal, recording a decline of 40.94% over the previous year.

However, Ford India was the largest exporter of passenger vehicles in 2017-18, posting a growth of 14.31%, with overseas shipments stood at 1,81,148 units.

General Motors, which has stopped its domestic sales of cars, shipped 83,140 units of passenger vehicles during the year, posting a growth of 17.54%.

Volkswagen India posted a growth of 4.06% in its overseas shipments at 90,382 units in 2017-18.

During the year, Maruti Suzuki India recorded a marginal growth of 1.53% in its exports at 1,23,903 units.

On the other hand, exports of two-wheelers from India were increased by 20.29% in 2017-18. The overseas shipments of two-wheelers stood at 28,15,016 units in 2017-18 as compared to 23,40,277 units in the previous year.