PNS|New Delhi
Passenger vehicle sales in India could hit a record of over 38 lakh units in FY23 but the strong growth momentum is not expected to carry over to 2023-24 with pent-up demand already been released, according to Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Managing Director Shailesh Chandra.
There could be a moderation on offtake of passenger vehicles (PVs) in the the third quarter of the ongoing fiscal and picking up again in the fourth quarter, but the growth rate in FY24 would also depend on the impact of new set of regulations such as BS VI phase II and new safety regulations kicking in next year, he told analysts.
The first half of FY23 was very strong for the PV industry with “nearly 1.9 million vehicles”, said Chandra who is also the Managing Director of Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd.
“Typically you would see a 48:52 kind of a ratio between H1 and H2. This time, you’re going to see nearly 50:50 kind of a ratio. So, it’s going to be a very strong year, highest-ever industry volume is what we are going to witness in this financial year, possibly going up to 3.8 million-plus,” he said.
In 2021-22, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), PV sales in India were at 30,69,499 units. The record for highest PV sales in India was in 2018-19 when 33,77,436 units were sold.
On the outlook for the remaining period of the year, he said, “I don’t see right now, the demand really going down, except that you’d see moderation on offtake this quarter, and then it should again pick up in the next quarter not to the full extent, I would say, because of the transition from BS VI Phase I to Phase II, but still, it will be good enough to do similar kind of volume as we have seen for the H1.” In Q3, he said, “We believe that industry will sustain the momentum that we have been seeing in the past quarters. The focus in this quarter for the industry would be retail.
