India car sales grow fastest since 2010-11

New Delhi: Sales of passenger cars in India grew 7.87% to 2.025 million units in the year ended 31 March, the fastest pace in five years.

In 2010-11, sales had grown at 29% over the year-ago period.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, the industry lobby group that declares monthly sales and production numbers, total passenger vehicle sales, including sales of cars, vans and utility vehicles, grew 7.24% to a record 2.78 million units in the year to March.

Two-wheeler sales rose 3.01% to 16.75 million.

In a signal of a better economic environment, sales in all other vehicle categories such as commercial vehicles and three-wheelers posted growth in the year.

Sales of all categories combined added up to a record 20.46 million vehicles.

“This year was good as well as challenging for the Indian automotive industry. All segments grew, heavy commercial vehicles did extremely well, and passenger cars grew mainly due to fantastic launches in compact segment at very attractive price point,” said Abdul Majeed, partner, Price Waterhouse.

Growth for the next fiscal year looks good on the back of lowering interest rates, good monsoon, better liquidity, increased investment in rural economy as well as infrastructure and overall better offtake in the Indian economy, Majeed added.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.