Car sales grow 4.9% in February, passenger vehicles up 9%

Domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 9.01 percent to 2,55,359 units in February, from 2,34,244 in the same month last year.

The overall automobile sales in India rose marginally in February signalling revival in the industry that was hit hard by the currency pullback in November last year.

With demonetisation impact steadily waning, overall sales across categories rose 0.94 percent to 17,19,699 units in February compared to 17,03,736 in the same month last year.

In December 2016, the overall automobile sales growth had touched a 16-year-low at 12,21,929 units, down 18.66 percent, from 15,02,314 units in December 2015.

In January, the auto sales across categories had registered a decline of 4.71 percent to 16,20,045 units, from 17,00,141 in January 2016.

"We are now witnessing steady recovery in the industry. Impact of demonetisation is steadily waning and we expect the impact to gradually fade away in the next 1-2 months," SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur told reporters here.

According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 9.01 percent to 2,55,359 units in February, from 2,34,244 a year ago.

"As dealers stocked up inventory in January itself, February sales are slightly on the lower side," Mathur said.

He, however, added that recovery is happening in both urban and rural areas and the industry is on the path to achieve close to a double-digit growth in the segment in the current fiscal.

Domestic car sales also ticked up to 1,72,623 units as against 1,64,559 in February last year, up 4.9 percent.

During February, market leader Maruti Suzuki India saw its car sales rise by 1.59 percent to 88,541 units as against 87,149 in the same month last year. The company's utility vehicle sales jumped over two-fold to 17,863 units as against 8,484 in February last year.

Rival Hyundai Motor India reported an increase of 2.17 percent in its domestic car sales at 33,149 units compared with 32,442 in the year-ago period. Its utility vehicles sales came in at 9,178 units as against 8,274 last year, up 10.92 percent.

Utility vehicle major Mahindra and Mahindra saw its sales in the utility category decline 13.63 percent to 19,529 units last month. Its car sales were at 97 units compared with 217 last year, down 55.29 percent, as per the SIAM data.

Total two-wheeler sales in February declined marginally to 13,62,045 units compared to 13,62,177 in the year-earlier month.

The figure for motorcycles last month read 8,32,697 units as against 8,59,582 a year earlier, down 3.13 percent.