As per the data furnished by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), sales of passenger vehicles, including the off-take in cars, utility vehicles and vans, surged to 282,519 units from 256,920 sold in March 2016.
On the sub-segment basis, sales of passenger cars rose by 8.17 per cent in the month under review to 190,065 units from 175,709 units in March 2016.
The utility vehicles' off-take zoomed in the month under review by 20.91 per cent to 77,689 units. However, vans' sales plunged by 12.94 per cent to 14,765 units.
The industry data revealed that overall commercial vehicles' sales went up by 9.26 per cent to 87,257 units in March. The segment is a key indicator of economic activity.
However, sales of three-wheelers segment receded by 23.72 per cent to 39,000 units during the month under review.
In contrast, the overall sales of two-wheelers, which include scooters, motorcycles and mopeds, inched up by 0.26 per cent to 1,471,576 units.
Product-wise, scooter sales in the month under review rose by 8.13 per cent to 486,604 units, whereas motorcycle sub-segment's sales logged a decline of 3.33 per cent to 915,199 units.
In addition, mopeds' off-take was a tad lower by 1.61 per cent to 69,773 units.
The industry data disclosed that the Indian automobile sector reported a marginal rise of 1.33 per cent in March 2017 -- with total sales at 1,880,352 units across segments and categories.
Moreover, the overall exports across categories increased by 13.59 per cent to 304,704 units during last month.
"The Indian automotive industry has performed wonderfully in March 2017. In the passenger car segment, OEMs with new launches and fantastic distribution network across the country continue to grow compared to others," said Abdul Majeed, Partner - Price Waterhouse .
"The commercial vehicles and two-wheeler vehicle segments saw a boost due to the implementation of BS IV norms from 1 April 2017. We no longer see the impact of demonetisation."
According to Sridhar V, Partner, Grant Thornton India: "Vehicle sales in most segments have achieved a monthly high in March 2017 and this performance is expected to continue into 2017-18."
SIAM's data for the financial year 2016-17 pointed out that domestic passenger vehicles' sales edged-up by 9.23 per cent to 3,046,727 units from 2,789,208 sold in 2015-16.
Sales of passenger cars during the fiscal under review rose by 3.85 per cent to 2,102,996 units.
Overall commercial vehicles' sales went up by 4.16 per cent to 714,232 units, whereas sales of three-wheelers' segment dropped by 4.93 per cent to 511,658 units.
Two-wheelers' off-take was higher by 6.89 per cent to 17,589,511 units.
The sector's total sales were up 6.81 per cent to 21,862,128 units. On the other hand, exports across categories decreased by 4.50 per cent to 3,479,824 units during last fiscal.
Industry experts were of the view that the automobile industry is expected to grow in 2017-18.
"With new reforms like GST effective from 1 July 2017, the economy is expected to grow. Overall competitive GST rates on different segments of the automotive sector and favourable monsoon will be key to keep the momentum of growth in the fiscal year 2017-18," Majeed added.
(This story has not been edited by Social News XYZ staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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