Decline in car sales anticipated in current financial year

Owing to the economic slowdown and continuously increasing rates of interest and fuel, car sales are expected to dip for the 2014, reports Economic Times. The drop in sales however is predicted to be a gradual one.

According to reports from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) last month 1,63,199 cars were sold in India. In comparison to the car sales for the same period last year this value has decreased by 3.9 percent. Earlier in April SIAM had foreseen automakers selling more cars this year and adding to the overall sales by three-five percent. But seeing the car sales fall continuously over the past nine months SIAM announced that the sales may drop instead of rising. Thankfully, due to the festive season, October was an exception as Indians purchased more vehicles as festivals are considered to be an auspicious time for buying vehicles.

Vishnu Mathur, Director General at SIAM, commented, "Now the decline is moderating, so if it keeps on moderating at this pace maybe we'll see zero growth in January-February. Definitely the year will be negative."

Fall in the value of rupee to the dollar, fuel prices shooting up, very inadequate salary hikes in the urban areas and many other factors are adding to the plight of car buyers in India eventually hindering the auto business. Analysts from the automobile industry predict and hope that this phase will revive itself by the end of this fiscal year.