Car sales in India: Slow start in FY25 but festive season boost expected
Car sales in the first half of the fiscal year has been slower than expected, but with the onset of the festive season demand is expected to gain momentum helping bringing down stocks in the network, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) Shailesh Chandra said.
As per data available with the industry body, sales of cars, sedans and utility vehicles went up by a modest 0.5% to 2,081,143 units between April and September FY25, signalling a weakening of demand in the third largest automobile market in the world. Passenger vehicle sales in India rose by 8.4% to a record 4.22 million units in FY24.
Chandra said, “The expectation was slightly better than (sales growth being) flattish. While April was good, sales in May and June did not play out as per expectation, which impacted industry volumes adversely. In September too, two weeks of Shraddh (considered by consumers as inauspicious for making purchases) affected retails. But now with the start of festival period, sales on-ground seem to be doing well.”
Good monsoons, healthy crop yields is expected to put more money in hands of customers in rural markets, boosting demand in the coming month and thereafter during the wedding season starting November. But even if demand momentum remains good in the second half of the financial year, passenger vehicle sales will grow at less than 5% in FY25, on a high base, Chandra informed.
Sales of commercial vehicles declined by 4.2% to 445,004 units between April and September FY25. Two-wheeler sales rose by a robust
