Sales to grow in single digit this FY: Tata Motors

Homegrown auto major Tata Motors today said it expects sales to recover and grow in single digits this fiscal, after seeing a big drop in 2012-13.

"This fiscal we will be growing, and Tata Motors' overall vehicle sales will be on positive side. We are expecting a single digit growth in 2013-14," Tata Motors Managing Director Karl Slym told reporters on the sidelines of AIMA awards here this evening.

He said the company could even have better sales expectations provided the medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) segment show recovery.

"If the M&HCV segment improves then our growth may be more than that (single digit). We are on the right platform now and our passenger car segment will be emerging in this fiscal," Slym added.

During 2012-13, Tata Motors' domestic sales of passenger vehicles dipped by 29.20% to 2,22,112 units from 3,13,710 units in 2011-12.

The company's commercial vehicle sales in last fiscal in domestic market stood at 5,37,143 units as against 5,29,980 units in the previous fiscal, down 1.35%.

Due to a demand slump, overall car sales in the country fell for the first time in a decade - down 6.69% in 2012-13 18,95,471 units. Sales of commercial vehicles in the country went down by 6.04% to 84,956 units from 90,416 units in the year-ago period.

Total sales of vehicles across categories in India also registered a fall of 7.76% to 14,86,522 units in March 2013, as against 16,11,525 units in the same month of 2012, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers.

Slym said the company's performance was dependent on the overall market conditions.

"A lot of that was dependent on the market, even then also our retail sales were growing," he said.