Car sales down for 2nd yr running;job loss pegged at 1.5 lakh

Car sales in India fell for the second consecutive fiscal in 2013-14 with a drop of 4.65 per cent as the auto industry continued to struggle with demand slump due to a sluggish economy that has led to an estimated job loss of around 1.5 lakh across the entire value chain.
According to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic car sales in FY14 stood at 17,86,899 units as compared to 18,74,055 units in the previous fiscal.
In the 2012-13, car sales in India fell by 6.69 per cent, which was the first decline in a decade.

"Last year was one of the most difficult years for the industry. The business environment was tough due to low growth of economy, high interest rates, fuel prices and low sentiments," SIAM President Vikram Kirloskar told reporters here.
He said the decline in auto sales hit the industry hard and employment, mainly of contract and temporary workers, have been affected.
"We at SIAM have not done a calculation of how much job losses were there, but I personally feel that across the entire value chain in the auto industry, from raw materials to dealerships, there could be around 1-1.5 lakh job losses," Kirloskar said.

During the fiscal, total sales of vehicles across categories, however, were up 3.53 per cent in 2013-14 at 1,84,21,538 units as compared to 1,77,93,701 units in 2012-13, SIAM said.

Two-wheelers did well posting a growth of 7.31 per cent at 1,48,05,481 units as against 1,37,97,185 units in FY13.
Motorcycle sales in 2013-14 stood at 10,479,817 units as against 1,00,85,000 units in the previous year, up 3.91 per cent, SIAM said.
Scooters also posted a robust growth of 23.24 per cent during FY14 at 36,02,744 units as compared to 29,23,424 units in 2012-13.
Commercial vehicles, however, continued to reel under a prolonged slump, posting a decline of 20.23 per cent at 6,32,738 units as against 7,93,211 units in the earlier fiscal.

"The stalling of infrastructure development projects, ban in mining activities and overall slowdown in economy continued to hit the commercial vehicles segment," Kirloskar said.
On the outlook for FY15, Kirloskar said the industry was "hoping for a moderate growth or at least not to be in the negative territory".