Key high frequency economic indicators on Friday showed a latent momentum in the economy. While passenger vehicles retail sales surged 20 per cent in October, consumption of auto and jet fuel rose between 0.8 and 9 per cent. In the same month, registration of e vehicles jumped 55 per cent while UPI transactions hit a new high with a growth of 45 per cent.
GST collection in October grew by 9 per cent to ₹1.87 lakh crore. This collection is related with goods consumed and services availed in September.
Though the collection in October was in single digit for a second successive month, it needs to be noted that the annual ritual of shradh was observed from September 17th.
This means that there were just 16 auspicious days in September for fresh purchase, especially of consumer durables which account for a large chunk of GST collection.
Auto sales
According to industry sources, retail passenger vehicle sales for October would be between 4.80 to 4.90 lakh as against 3.9 lakh during the same month in 2023, showing a growth of 20 per cent. However, wholesales (dispatches to dealers) may seem flat because of inventory correction by all the automakers.
E Vehicle
Boosting green mobility, total monthly Electric Vehicle (EV) registrations (including all categories) reached an all time high with the October registrations recording 2.18 lakh units which marked the highest monthly volume recorded to date.
This represents a significant increase from 1.6 lakh registrations in September 2024 and 1.4 lakh units in October 2023. The electric two-wheeler market set a new record with 1.39 lakh units sold in October, surpassing the previous peak of 1.08 lakh units in July 2024, according to Vahan data.
Fuel Consumption
Consumption of diesel in October increased around 1 per cent year-on-year but on a sequential basis, it recorded an impressive growth of 20 per cent highlighting greater movement of goods and acceleration in economic activities.
Consumption of Petrol, largely used in the personal vehicle category, also rose by roughly 8 per cent on a monthly and y-o-y basis in October 2024 to 3.40 MT.
At the same time, ATF (Aviation Turbine Fuel) or jet fuel consumption, rose by almost 9 per cent Y-o-Y and 4 per cent M-o-M to 751,000 tonnes, second all-time high. The rise in usage of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) is on the back of growing domestic and international air travel.
UPI
Data shared by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) showed that UPI transactions surged to a total of 16.58 billion amounting to ₹23.50 lakh crore as against a total of 15.04 billion transactions amounting to ₹20.64 lakh crore of September.
Higher transactions through UPI indicate that formalisation of economy is gathering pace. This, in turn, is expected to boost tax collection.
Freight loading
Freight loading for Railways in October 2024 stood around 126.43 million tonnes, up 1.75 per cent over the same period last year, the provisional numbers showed. In the year ago period, it stood at 124.25 mt. In value terms, October freight loading remained flat at around ₹13,685 crore, sources said.