Passenger car sales in India jumped 23.7% in March, to 110,978 units from 89,724 in the same month a year ago, an industry body said on Thursday, as pent-up demand and price cuts boosted sales.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Reuters noted that the federal budget in February lowered manufacturing tax on small cars to 16% from 24%, a move seen as part of government plans to make India a global production hub for small cars.
Several car makers promptly slashed prices, including the country’s top three – Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said in a statement cited by the news agency that total passenger car sales in the fiscal year ending in March rose to 882,094 units from 820,179 units in the previous 12 months.
It also said sales of all passenger vehicles – cars, utility vehicles and multipurpose vehicles – rose to nearly 1.14 million units from 1.06 million in the financial year to March 31.
Total sales of commercial vehicles in the fiscal year ending last month stood at 350,683 compared with 318,430 in the previous year, Reuters added.
