New car sales in India rose for a third straight month in April, boosted by lower borrowing costs, increased rural demand and government stimulus measures.
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Data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed that 102,899 cars were sold in April, up 4.2% year on year.
Job losses and wage cuts in the wake of the financial crisis along with tight financing conditions have dampened vehicle sales in India since mid-2008. However, the Indian government has cut taxes and the central bank slashed its key lending rate by 4.25 percentage points since last October to 4.75% to revive demand.
SIAM remains cautious but has forecast passenger vehicle sales in the current financial year to March 2010 to rise 3-5%.
Market leader Maruti Suzuki reported an 8.6% rise in sales in April to 56,221 while Hyundai’s India sales rose 3.5% to 22,241. Tata Motors’ sales remained unchanged from a year ago by it is expecting a sales boost in July when its Nano budget car goes on sale. The company has already received about INR25bn (US$500m) from the advance bookings of Nano and the first 100,000 owners are to be selected by a lottery.
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By GlobalDataSales of trucks and buses fell 11.3% in April to 29,842 units, continuing the downward trend although SIAM has forecast sales in that segment to rise 7% to 10% in 2009/10.
