Volvo expects flat growth for its truck segment in India

Volvo, the world's second-largest heavy-duty truck maker, expects a flat growth rate for its premium truck segment in India this year.     

"We were growing about 20 to 25 per cent annually. This year we expect very flat growth although we don't expect negative trend. This is despite the fact that the heavy duty truck market in India has declined by 50 per cent in first five months," Volvo Trucks India President Somnath Bhattacharjee told PTI.     

Bhattacharjee, who was in Goa to inaugurate Svenska Technologies — a new dealership for Volvo Trucks, said that Volvo had a marginal dip in the first five months this year.     

"The marginal dip was in April and May this year. Till March and then in April-May, due to the general elections, our growth was low because most of our sales are for large corporate and contract driven," Bhattarcharjee said.      He said that the condition during general elections was not of a slowdown.     

"The award for the contracts before general elections was deferred. It was not a slowdown but deferment of purchases which are now catching up in June and July," he said.

The Volvo, worldwide, has faced crisis with its Chief Executive Leif Johansson admitting in Sweden recently that the demand for the truck had reached its floor.     

Bhattarcharjee feels that in India there are high hopes of market picking up because of its requirement in the sectors like mining, which are high priority segments in the country.     

"We don't see a slowdown in the premium truck market because it is contract driven. We cater to corporate and large sectors like mining which are highly priority sector," he said.     

Bhattacharjee said that the mining has good future as coal is key input material for power.     

Speaking about the worldwide market, he said that commercial vehicle industry worldwide has seen a decline anywhere between 40 and 60 per cent and Volvo is no different.     

"But when it comes to India, we have created special niche segment and this segment are highly connected to the daily life and very fundamentally connected to power and infrastructure and urban development, aviation refueling which has not seen much affect," he said.