NEW DELHI: India’s automobile exports seem to have been facing the heat of the global slowdown as the growth rate in the overseas sales has witnessed a sharp reduction in the past two months.
During April- November 2015, the country’s auto exports grew by just 2.61%, much less than the growth rate of 5.78% witnessed during April-October period. Analysts say that the steep fall in the export of commercial vehicles and two-wheelers seems to have led to the negative growth trend of the sector in the past two months.
“Passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers and two wheelers registered a growth at 4.30%, 15.22%, 10.46 % and 0.52% respectively in April- November 2015 over April- November 2014,” said the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).
During April-March 2015, the country’s overall automobile exports grew by 14.89% over 2014 when the overseas sales in the commercial vehicle category went up by 11.33% but three-wheelers and two-wheeler sales grew by 15.44% and 17.93% respectively.
On Monday, Bajaj Auto released its December sales data for motocycles and commercial vehicles, according to which, the exports of these two segments fell by 12% last month as compared to the figure of December 2014.
The company’s overall global shipment of motorcycles and commercial vehicles during April-December 2015 saw a fall of 3% with the export of 14,07,082 units against 14,51,474 exported during the same period in 2014.
Two-wheeler maker TVS Motor Company said that its total exports registered sales of 32,771 units in December 2015 as against 32,969 units sold in the same month of 2014. “Two wheeler exports grew by 5.5% with sales increasing from 24,556 units in December 2014 to 25,906 units in December 2015,” it said.
Eicher Motor has also registered a fall of 9% in the number of motorcycles exported during December 2015 over December 2014. The company’s total motorcycle exports, however, saw a 33% increase year-on-year during January-December period. Tata Motors, on the other hand, said that its exports last month stood at 4,557 units, up 15% from 3,958 units exported in December 2014.
