Car sales expected to rise marginally in FY15: SIAM

Domestic car sales down 5% in March

Car sales in India are expected to rise marginally this fiscal year after posting two straight years of decline, an industry body said on Friday.

"Not fancy growth but hopefully some moderate growth because there has been some improvement in GDP numbers in recent months," said Vikram Kirloskar, president of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), referring to sales of cars and utility vehicles during the year to March 2015.

He declined to give a specific forecast, but said he expected the sales to rise "more than zero percent".

Domestic passenger car sales declined 5.08% to 1,71,489 units in March as compared to 1,80,675 units in the year-ago month.

Motorcycle sales last month climbed 16.24% to 9,06,665 units from 7,80,022 units a year earlier, SIAM data showed.

Total two-wheeler sales in March rose 21.16% to 13,34,214 units as against 11,01,203 units in the same month last year.

Sales of commercial vehicles were down 24.55% to 64,101 units in March, SIAM said.

Vehicle sales across categories registered an increase of 12.83% to 16,77,445 units from 14,86,664 units in March 2013, it added.

For the fiscal ended March 31, 2014, domestic car sales fell 4.65% to 17,86,899 units as compared to 18,74,055 units in the previous year.