NEW DELHI: Despite global economic slowdown, auto exports have so far shown an impressive growth in the current fiscal. Exports in the 10 months of the current financial year (April-January 2008-09) have risen by 63 per cent, underlining India’s growth as an auto export hub, though domestic auto sales have taken a hit.
Latest figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) reveal that exports of passenger cars during the period have reached 2.71 lakh units compared with 1.66 lakh units in the year-ago period. Auto majors who have seen their exports rising are: Hyundai Motor India followed by Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra Renault, Fiat India Automobiles, General Motors India and Honda Siel Cars India.
Hyundai Motor, India’s largest car exporter, saw its exports increase by a huge 91.13 per cent in the current fiscal to 2.14 lakh units against 1.12 lakh units in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Maruti Suzuki’s exports went up by 16.60 per cent to 48,689 units, while that of Honda Siel Cars India’s rose to 56 units in the April-January period. Mahindra Renault has so far exported 1,360 vehicles, while Fiat India sold 601 units, SIAM said. However, Tata Motors has registered a decline of 43.05 per cent in exports in the ten-month period to 5,880 from 10,324 units. In the domestic market, total passenger car sales has fallen marginally to 9.74 lakh units during the period under review from 9.80-lakh units in the year-ago period.
In January 2009, automobile units reported an overall 7.4 per cent decline in sales at 7.68 lakh vehicles, where domestic passenger car sales declined by 3.2 per cent, two-wheelers by 3.9 per cent, and commercial vehicles by 50.96 per cent.
About the recovery of the auto sector, SIAM Secretary General Dilip Chenoy said: “A lot depends on implementation of the stimulus packages that were announced and also on the proposed measures during and prior to the interim budget”.
Source : The Hindu