Car sales rise for fifth month in a row

Passenger car sales in the country continued to grow for the fifth consecutive month, with June sales rising by 7.81 per cent, which could show a healthy first half of this fiscal.

According to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, 1,07,531 passenger cars were sold in June whereas in the year-ago period sales stood at 99,741 units.

"The growth witnessed in the passenger car segment was mainly driven by the new model launches. Continuity of stimulus packages will help arrest the decline in sales.

"Car and two-wheeler sales will have growths in the first half of the current fiscal," SIAM Director General Dilip Chenoy said.

Also in June, the total two-wheeler sales surged by 17.44 per cent to 7,06,937 units over the same period last year. Motorcycles sales rose by 16.23 per cent to 5,50,833 units in the month over the year-ago period, SIAM said.

In all, 9,17,100 vehicles were sold in June, a rise of 14.26 per cent over a sale of 8,02,624 units in the same month last year, it said.

"Total sales may see a single-digit growth in the first half, which needs to be addressed ... Though the Budget is positive, we believe that some more steps will be announced outside the Budget within next few weeks," Chenoy said.