India’s domestic car sales reportedly fell 4.2% for the year to the end of February, as buyers put off purchases on expectations the government would cut duties on cars and make them cheaper.
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But Reuters noted that the federal budget on February 28 failed to lower the excise duty on cars to 16%, in line with that on trucks and bikes, from 24%.
Car sales in February fell to 62,072 units from 64,819 in the same month of 2004, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said in a statement cited by the news agency.
Monthly sales of nine out of 11 car makers reportedly fell during February. Only Tata Motors, India’s No. 2 producer of cars, reported higher sales of 12,671 units, up 29.8% from a year earlier.
Hindustan Motors Ltd.’s car sales were flat at 1,363 units, Reuters said.
According to the report, car sales by Maruti Udyog Ltd., India’s largest car maker 54.2% owned by Suzuki, dropped to 33,505 units from 34,084 a year earlier. Its total vehicle sales, including vans, grew 3.2%.
Ambrish Mishra, auto analyst at Sushil Finance Ltd., told Reuters the market was still expecting a cut in excise duty on cars.
“One may not have to wait for next year’s budget for that to happen,” he reportedly said, adding he expected car sales over the next two years would rise 12-14% each year.
