Car sales fall 7% in FY13, first drop in a decade

Domestic car sales down 22.51% in March, bikes dip 8.32%

Car sales in India fell an annual 6.7% in the financial year that ended in March, their first fall in a decade.

Domestic passenger car sales declined by 22.51% to 180,675 units in March this year compared to 233,151 units in the same month of 2012. This was the fifth consecutive monthly slide, an industry body said on Wednesday.

According to the data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), motorcycle sales in last month declined by 8.32% to 779,878 units from 850,637 units in the same month previous year.

Total two-wheeler sales in March 2013 declined by 6.96% to 1,101,058 units from 1,183,425 units in the same month of previous year.

Total sales of commercial vehicles declined by 6.04% to 84,956 units from 90,416 units in the year-ago period, SIAM said.

Total sales of vehicles across categories registered a fall of 7.76% to 1,486,522 units in March 2013 against 1,611,525 units in the same month of 2012, it added.