PV exports fell 17% in August as companies stocked up for festivals

Domestic PV dispatches rose 36.5 per cent to 439,309 units, while exports declined to 68,230 units as automakers built supplies ahead of the festive season

India’s passenger vehicle (PV) exports declined 17 per cent year-on-year in August, contrasting with a 36.5 per cent surge in domestic dispatches as automakers stocked up for the festival season.

 

Domestic PV dispatches surged to 439,309 units in August — up from 321,901 a year earlier — making it the highest ever for the month, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Tuesday.

 

In contrast, PV exports declined 17 per cent to 68,230 units from 82,246. The export data does not include Tata Motors, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar Land Rover and Volvo as SIAM does not have their monthly numbers.

  

Overseas shipments of passenger cars fell 51.5 per cent to 21,181 units in August from 43,650 a year earlier, driving the overall decline in exports.

 

Utility vehicle (UV) exports beat the trend, rising 23.7 per cent to 46,400 units from 37,522 units. Van exports declined 39.6 per cent to 649 units.

 

Domestic demand remained strong across PV segments. Excluding Tata Motors and some luxury manufacturers, UV dispatches jumped 39.2 per cent to 250,084 units. Passenger car dispatches increased 23.8 per cent to 112,011 units.

 

Van sales rose 10.9 per cent to 11,961 units.

 

PV production increased 25.7 per cent to 454,266 units from 361,489 units.

 

UV production grew 28.3 per cent, passenger car production 22.1 per cent and van output 11.5 per cent.

 

SIAM attributed the strong August sales partly to a favourable base while pointing to healthy underlying demand.

 

“India’s automobile industry is passing through a robust growth phase. The growth in August 2026 has been supported by a lower base in the previous year,” said Rajesh Menon, director general of SIAM.

 

He said strong consumer confidence, resilient rural markets and improving financing conditions are supporting demand, with the festive season expected to provide an additional boost.

 

Automobile demand is also supported by a replacement cycle that goes beyond the boost from last year’s rate cuts in goods and services tax (GST), said Jitin Makkar, senior vice-president and group head at ICRA.

 

“We would have otherwise expected the GST-related sentiment boost and the economic boost to have started to show signs of fading. That is yet to happen. Therefore, our view is that it is not just the GST factor alone but also the replacement demand,” Makkar said.

 

Consumers who had deferred replacing vehicles bought five to seven years ago are returning to the market. However, ICRA expects the pace of growth to moderate in the second half of FY27. “From the levels of volumetric growth that the automobile sector has seen in H1 [first half] FY27, H2 perhaps, from a growth perspective, is going to be much softer,” Makkar said.

 

The divergence between domestic sales and exports was specific to PVs. Two-wheeler exports rose 28.5 per cent to 555,292 units, while domestic dispatches increased 10.5 per cent to 2.03 million units.

 

Three-wheeler exports increased 31.3 per cent to 56,166 units, alongside a 22.8 per cent rise in domestic dispatches to 93,764 units.