According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), the total vehicle registrations in May 2021 dropped 54.79% to 5,35,855 units as against 11,85,374 units in April 2021. The sales were 70.69% lower when compared to 18,22,566 units sold in May 2019.
Two-wheeler sales in May also fell by 53%, while those of three-wheelers slipped 76%, MoM.
Passenger vehicle registrations were down by 59% and commercial vehicle registrations dropped 66%, MoM and tractor sales, too, down 57% on a sequential basis, as per FADA data released on Thursday.
Commenting on how May’21 performed, FADA President, Vinkesh Gulati said, “The 2nd wave of covid has left the entire country devastated as there may not be a single household which did not get affected. Apart from urban markets, this time, even rural areas were badly hit. May saw continued lockdown in most of the states. Not surprisingly, Auto Retail for the month witnessed bloodbath as sales fell by -55% on MoM basis. Similarly, all categories of vehicles fell by a huge degree with 2W falling by -53%, 3W by -76%, PV by -59%, Tractors by -57% and CV by -66% respectively.”
Auto Retail fraternity is in dire need of support. While a handful of OEMs (
Tata Motors – CV, Renault, Bharat Benz and HMSI) have announced financial help to their channel partners, others are yet to do so. Hence, FADA humbly requests all those OEMs which have still not announced any financial assistance to kindly do it urgently.
FADA also appeals to the Hon’ble Prime Minister that instead of restructuring, banks should allow a moratorium of 90 days to all categories of dealers without keeping a turnover limit. This is required as Auto Retail Trade works on the principle where dealers get funded from Financial Institutes in terms of inventory funding for a period of 30-45 days (depending from bank to bank) to purchase vehicles from Auto OEMs.
Since the current lockdown has already lasted well over 30-45 days and is still continuing in South India, revenue for most of the Dealers are negligible as there was minimal sales. Due to this, dealers will not be able to repay their loan tranche payment which is getting due. This will ultimately lead towards default. Since there are no guidelines, extension of tranche is considered as restructuring of loan. This will ultimately have a negative impact on Dealers credit score as their CIBIL rating will get impacted.
The monsoons arrived in India almost on time. If Met predictions are to be believed, normal and evenly spread rains may bring an early respite for the rural economy thus pushing demand for vehicles faster than expected, FADA said in the press note.
It may be prudent to say that India may not witness a V – shaped recovery unlike last time. FADA hence continues to remain guarded in its optimism on overall industry recovery for the fiscal FY21-22, FADA added.