Hero Honda's April sales grow 29%

TVS Motors registers a growth of 3%.

Hero Honda, the country’s largest manufacturer of two-wheelers, today reported 29.5 per cent growth in sales for April.

The company sold 3,70,575 two-wheelers this April as against 2,86,252 units in April 2008. This comes on the back of more growth in the past three months. Its sales grew around 6 per cent in January, 24 per cent in February and 10 per cent in March.

Analysts attribute the growth of Hero Honda to its 50:50 sale mix between rural and urban India. Analysts say efforts the company has made to develop a rural sales and servicing network are now paying dividends in the form of good sales from the rural economy, which doesn’t depend on financing.

“Also, models like Passion and Splendour, which are in the 100-125 cc category, are volume generators for the company,” said Vaishali Jajoo, analyst, Angel Broking.

Sales of TVS Motors grew only 3 per cent in April, much lower than the 11-13 per cent in the January to March period. In April, the company sold 102,985 two-wheelers, as against 99,759 units in the same month last year.

Going forward, sales of two-wheelers in the coming months depend on the repossession norms being deliberated by the Reserve Bank of India. “These April sales figures reported by two-wheeler companies could have been many times more, had the repossession norms been finalised. Once the guidelines are announced, it would provide clarity to lenders like private banks,” said NR Naryanan, head (Retail Assets Products), ICICI Bank.