India auto sales down 13%, industry retreats by six years in pandemic

Companies sold a total of 18,615,588 of automobiles in FY21, lowest since FY15: Association.

India’s total automobile sales fell year-on-year by 13.05 per cent to 41,289,28 units as the economy reeled under the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, data from an industry association showed.

Overall volume in the domestic market, which was dragged down by two-wheelers, pushed the industry back by six years, said the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Monday in its annual sales data.

FY2020-21 was one of the worst years for the industry that reported sales in each segment touching multi-year lows. With sales of 2,711,457 units in the domestic market, the passenger vehicles touched a six-year low. Similarly, with a volume of 15,119,000 units, motorcycle and scooter sales in the domestic market, was pushed back to the FY15 volumes.

Three wheelers with unit sales of 216,000 were battered the most as volumes got dragged to a 19-year low. The commercial vehicles sales too declined to the lowest in 11-year low. The 5-year compounded annual growth rate of the overall auto industry dropped to 6 per cent against the 10-year CAGR of 2 per cent.

Auto sales volume (units)

Industry 

FY21: 18,615,588, the lowest in 6 years

FY15: 19,724,371

5-year CAGR (FY11 to FY16): 6%

10-year CAGR (FY11 to FY21): 2%

Passenger vehicles

FY21: 2,711,000, the lowest in 5 years

FY16: 2,789,000

Two-wheelers

FY21: 15,119,000, the lowest in 6 years  

FY15: 16,005,000

Commercial vehicles

FY21: 569,000, lowest in 11 years

FY11: 676,000

Three-wheelers

FY21: 216,000, the lowest in 19 years

FY03: 232,000