Truck rentals on major trunk routes, which remained stable during the pre-festive period, saw a decline in October.
After the increased truck movement during Diwali and Dussehra, commercial activity slowed down in October.
Fleet utilisation, which is often influenced by seasonal fluctuations, typically rises during the pre-festive period due to heightened demand for transportation from manufacturers. This surge eventually subsides, returning to more normal levels, according to the Shriram Bulletin.
On the Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi route, truck rentals for an 18-tonne payload truck dropped slightly to ₹1,52,000, down from ₹1,53,000 in September. Rentals on the Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi and Mumbai-Chennai-Mumbai routes remained unchanged at ₹1,50,000 and ₹1,51,000, respectively. The Bengaluru-Mumbai-Bengaluru route experienced a 1.6 per cent decrease, with the rate falling to ₹1,25,000 from ₹1,27,000.
“It was a month where truckers experienced a slight cooling in rentals and fleet occupancy, which is typical after the Diwali rush,” said YS Chakravarti, MD & CEO of Shriram Finance Ltd.
With the monsoon season coming to an end, infrastructure development projects have gained momentum, and new projects have been launched. This has led to a 75 per cent month-on-month increase in earth-moving equipment sales and a 44 per cent rise in commercial construction equipment vehicle sales.
Rural drive
Positive rural sentiment, fuelled by favourable monsoon conditions and strong crop yield expectations, has also contributed to strong performance. Commercial tractor sales grew by 39 per cent month-on-month, while agricultural trailer sales rose by 67 per cent.
The festive season, combined with holiday travel, typically drives an uptick in the use of both private and public vehicles, as well as regular goods movement. This surge resulted in an 8.3 per cent month-on-month increase in toll collections via FASTag, while fuel sales rose by 20 per cent for diesel and 8 per cent for petrol, the Bulletin noted.