Domestic car sales up 7.73% in May

Car sales in India grew for the seventh month in a row in May with a jump of 7.73 per cent as the auto industry stayed in the slow lane on the path to recovery.

Declining motorcycle sales remained a cause of worry.

According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger car sales in May this year stood at 160,067 units against 148,577 units in the year-ago month.

"Currently, we are in a slow recovery mode, with some segments showing growth and some declining. Even those segments like cars, which have shown growth, haven't reached peak levels," SIAM director general Vishnu Mathur told reporters in New Delhi.

He said falling sales of motorcycles and light commercial vehicles (LCVs) showed that not all is well with the rural economy.

Motorcycle sales last month slid 3.04 per cent to 953,322 units, from 9,83,210 units in May last year, while those of LCVs were down 7.19 per cent at 28,226 units against 30,414 units a year ago.

"For LCVs, barring an increase in September 2014, the segment has been witnessing decline for the past 25 months," Mathur said.

But he struck an optimistic tone, saying that with consumer sentiment improving, demand in the car segment is likely to gain traction as banks start to pass on rate cut benefits to consumers.

In May, market leader Maruti Suzuki India saw its sales grow 14.29 per cent to 85,190 units against 74,536 units in the year-ago period.

Likewise, Hyundai Motor India posted a growth of 3.8 per cent at 37,328 units compared with 35,955 units in May last year.

Honda Cars India, however, had a decline of 8.78 per cent at 12,134 units against 13,303 units a year ago.

In the case of Tata Motors, sales rose 32.37 per cent to 9,176 units against 6,932 units in the same month last year while those of Mahindra & Mahindra slipped 4.77 per cent at 16,980 units compared with 17,831 units last year.

Mathur said the auto industry is hopeful of a better monsoon this year based on forecast by SkyMet, which SIAM tracks.

In May, total vehicle sales across categories registered a decline of 0.58 per cent to 16,83,962 units, from 16,93,740 units in May 2014, SIAM said.