Opinion
Mint Quick Edit | Auto dispatches: Still at a crawl
Summary
- Four-wheelers are barely ahead of the monthly figure notched up a year earlier, while two-wheelers have fallen behind. The automobile sector in India needs to get out of second gear and pick up pace.
Passenger vehicle sales in February held their head above water, but only just. Wholesale dispatches for the month climbed 1.9% from a year earlies to 377,689 units, according to data put out by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Thursday. Factory dispatches to dealerships of three-wheelers also rose 4.7% but for two-wheelers, they fell 9%.
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Overall, February's numbers offer a mixed picture. An under-2% rise for passenge vehicles is hardly impressive. But given weakening consumer demand, a problem that even attracted India's budget focus the growth figure isn't all that bad.
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A slowing economy has meant income prospects have dimmed, even as the wealth effect of swelling stock portfolios has gone into reverse. Discretionary purchases seem to have flagged in several market categories. In the case of automotive products, the data shows that a divergence in recent years between how four-wheelers and two-wheelers are faring is proving persistent.
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If this isn't resolved, businesses may be left staring at premature saturation in markets that should be booming in a country of such vast numbers and high upward-mobility potential.
