Coronavirus Outbreak: Auto sector hit by COVID-19; domestic passenger vehicle sales drop 51 percent in March

Sales of passenger vehicles has declined by 51 percent in March this year, data by industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed on Monday. In March 2020, the automobile industry sold 1,43,014 units of passenger vehicles compared to 2,91,861 units in the same month a year ago. The nationwide lockdown due to the spread of coronavirus had largely impacted on the sales on vehicles in India last month. [caption id=“attachment_8255901” align=“alignnone” width=“1280”] Image: Pixbay[/caption] Commercial vehicles sales also witnessed a huge decline of 88.05 percent in the month of March. Last month, 13,027 units of commercial vehicles were sold as against 1,09,022 units in March 2019. Sales of two-wheeler saw a decline of 39.83 percent at 8,66,849 units in March as compared to 14,40,593 units a year ago, while three-wheeler sales fell 58.34 percent last month. Around 27,608 three-wheelers were sold in March compared to 66,274 units during the same month in 2019. The total production by the domestic automobile industry in March 2020, including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three-wheelers, two-wheelers and quadricycle, was 14,47,345 down 33.61 percent from 21,80,203 vehicles produced in March 2019. “The month of March 2020 was one of the most challenging months for the auto sector as the 21-day lockdown resulted in bringing the production and sales of vehicles to a standstill in the last week,” President of SIAM Rajan Wadhera said. Wadhera said as per SIAM estimates, auto industry is losing Rs 2,300 crore in production turnover for every day of closure. He added that the auto industry is engaged in a dialogue with the Government of India on policy measures which could minimise the impact of COVID on the Indian economy. Meanwhile, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), the apex body of automobile retail in the country, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking relief measures to deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. FADA sought complete waiver of interest on all category of loans for the lockdown period and a 4 percent interest subsidy for working capital/loan requirements for nine months post lockdown. The automobile body requested 20 percent additional overdraft on sanctioned credit limits for a period of six month post opening to support salary disbursement and other fixed expenses cash.