Vehicle sales increasing on the basis of rural India, not urban
New Delhi| In the first six months of the current fiscal year (April – September 2024), retail sales of vehicles in the country have increased by 6.55 percent. It is generally believed that urban areas contribute more to the sale of vehicles other than motorcycles and tractors. But, now the scenario is changing. According to the data, sales of every category of vehicles in the urban area have decreased in the half year ending September 30, while sales in rural areas have increased.
According to the latest data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the total retail sales of vehicles in the country stood at 1,19,15,963 units in the first six months of the financial year. This is 6.55 per cent higher than the 1,11,83,734 units in the same half of the previous fiscal year.
Fada reported that overall sales decreased by 2.25 percent in the urban area in the first half. Whereas, in rural areas it had registered a rise of 1.93 per cent. In this period, there was a decline of 1.19 percent in the sales of two-wheelers, 7.27 percent in three-wheelers, 1.20 percent in commercial vehicles and 2.73 percent in passenger vehicles in the urban area. Sales of tractors were also down 11.67 per cent.
Talking about rural areas, retail sales of two-wheelers have increased by 0.90 percent, three-wheelers by 7.38 percent and passenger vehicles (cars, SUVs and vans) by 4.86 percent. At the same time, sales of commercial vehicles were up by 1.24 per cent and tractors by 2.92 per cent.
Fada’s president C.S. Releasing retail sales figures for September, Vigneshwar said that this year there has been eight percent more rainfall than normal during the southwest monsoon, which is the highest in four years. Due to this, the area under Kharif crops has increased by 1.5 percent compared to the previous season. This has had a positive impact on rural demand. However, he admitted that even festivals like Ganesh Chaturthi and Onam were not effective in increasing demand.
