India's auto exports down 16% to 2.44 lakh units

The Dollar Business Bureau

Indian automobile exports have come down 15.87% to 2.44 lakh units in April against 2.9 lakh units in same month last year. This was revealed by the apex organisation for auto manufacturers in the country, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The reason for this being a continuous slump in demand in important global markets such as Africa and Latin America, it said.

According to the SIAM data, after three months of continuous growth, automobile exports came down in April 2016. While the auto exports have increased 3.8% in January, they have surged up 0.95% in February and 6.53% in March. The exports of only passenger vehicles have registered a growth of 6.61% at 53,651 units last month when compared to 50,326 units in the same month last year.

The shipments of commercial vehicles declined 2.68% at 6,826 units in April 2016, against 7,014 units in the same month previous year. A maximum decline is observed in the exports of three-wheelers with 61.86% degrowth at 18,135 units last month when compared to 47,548 units in the corresponding period a year ago. The two-wheeler shipments also declined 10.8% at 165,456 units in April 2016 over 185,480 units in April 2015.

Vishnu Mathur, Director General of SIAM said that automobile exports from India have declined overall. Almost every segment has come down and this is largely because of the African and Latin American markets that are facing many challenges as of now. The decline in commodity exports, as well as the downward trends in crude oil prices have led to a fall in the income of the African markets, he said.

In Latin America, currencies have been badly hit due to inflation. Therefore, the purchasing power of people has gone down. Latin American countries like Mexico, Argentina, Nigeria and Algeria are some of the biggest export markets for automobiles from India, he informed.

Indian automobile industry has registered 10.91% growth in the overall production with a total 21.18 lakh vehicles manufactured in April 2016 as against 19.09 lakh units in corresponding month last year. The automobiles include passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycles.