Pune: The passenger vehicle or PV sales, the barometer of the economy, in the April-September 2024 period or H1 FY25 were pegged at 2.08 million units, merely 0.5 per cent year-on-year growth, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers or SIAM said on Monday.
In the first half of FY24, sales had clocked 2.07 million units.
Automakers are now pinning their hopes on the festive season to spur demand for PVs.
Shailesh Chandra, President of SIAM said the flat sales of PVs in the first half of 2024-25 came as a “slight surprise” for the automobile industry, but it is expecting a rebound in the second half on account of the festival season.
He noted that the PV industry is expected to grow “sub-5 per cent” in FY 24-25.
“The triangulated view at the beginning of the fiscal year was 5-8 per cent growth. The expectation for H1 was slightly better. It was a slight surprise, especially May and June, which did not go as per our expectations. May and June affected us badly,” said Chandra, who is also the Managing Director of PV and electric vehicle (EV) divisions of Tata Motors.
He pointed out that the sales went up in September but they were pulled down by the shraddh period. “Now the second half of this fiscal year has a big burden. That is why we expect sub-5 per cent growth in FY25,” Chandra noted.
He said that the high base effect was the main reason for the flat sales in April-Sep. 2024 period.
“FY25 is a consolidation year for the auto industry and we should see the growth stabilizing around 6-8 per cent next year,” said Chandra. He explained that from around 2.2 million units’ sales in FY20, the PV industry hit 4.2 million in FY24.
The domestic sales of PVs fell 1.4 per cent Y-o-Y to 3,56,752 units in September.
However, sales of two-wheelers jumped 15.8 per cent Y-o-Y to 2.025 million units last month.
