Excise duty cut propels auto sector growth

With the excise duty reduction and change in government lifting consumer sentiment, leading carmakers posted higher sales in June. The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) said that its domestic sales rose 31 per cent during the month to 1,00,964 units as against 77,002 units in June 2013.

MSIL's growth was on the back of higher sales in the mini segment cars, including M 800, Alto, A- Star and Wagon R, which jumped by a massive 52.1 per cent to 47,618 units during the month. The company said that sales of its popular compact sedan Dzire rose 27.4 per cent during the month under review to 15,990 units as against 12,548 units in June 2013.

Rival Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) reported 9.5- per cent increase in its domestic sales at 33,514 units last month as compared to 30,610 units in May 2013. HMIL senior vice- president (sales and marketing) Rakesh Srivastava said that the growth in the domestic sales has been due to the success of Xcent, Grand and Santa Fe.

On the future outlook, Srivastava said, "With the extension of excise duty benefit, we hope to maintain the growth in volume while strengthening our product portfolio and improving channel efficiency." Ford India said that its domestic sales increased by 1.58 per cent to 7,258 units in June as against 7,145 units in the same month last year on the back of EcoSport.

Honda Cars India reported a jump of 75 per cent in domestic sales at 16,316 units in June. It had sold 9,297 units in June last year. Toyota Kirloskar Motor reported nine- per cent increase in domestic sales at 12,010 units in June as compared to 11,010 units in same period of last year.

Mahindra & Mahindra posted a marginal increase at 36,457 units last month as against 36,207 a year earlier. "We have achieved a marginal growth in our sales in June 2014 and do hope that the auto industry will continue to stay in a positive zone," chief executive (automotive division) Pravin Shah said.

Courtesy: Mail Today