Two-wheeler exports hit a two year low

Even as the sales of two-wheelers saw an uptick in the domestic market, the exports of two-wheelers hit a two year low in October.

According to data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM), October witnessed the biggest drop in two-wheeler exports since April 2020.

In October, 2,87,319 two-wheelers were exported. The domestic sales registered sales of 15,77,694 two-wheelers in October.

In April 2020, 45,880 two-wheelers were exported. An uptick in exports of two-wheelers was reported after that with December 2020 recording 3,67,521 two-wheeler exports. 

An uptick in exports was also witnessed in April 2022 with 4,05,439 vehicles. In September 2022, 2,95,061 two-wheelers were exported. 

Export contribution

Earlier, businessline had reported that the export share in Bajaj Auto’s total sales in 2021 stood at nearly 56 per cent against 49.44 per cent in 2020. Exports of Bajaj Auto in 2021 grew 32.5 per cent to 2.23 million (1.68 million in 2020).

TVS Motor company’s export contribution grew to 34 per cent in 2021 from 24.44 per cent in 2020.

Demands from South Asia, West Africa and Latin America had helped TVS to grow exports by 71 per cent to 1.09 million units in 2021 (6.43 lakh in 2020) and Hero MotoCorp had clocked a growth of 71 per cent in export volumes to 2.89 lakh in 2021 (1.69 lakh in 2020). 

Inflationary pressures

According to experts, the exports of two-wheelers in the country are seeing an impact due to inflationary pressures.

“There has been strengthening of dollar, which has resulted in currency devaluation led inflation in many countries, especially in South Asian and African markets. This has also resulted in shortages of foreign exchange in those countries. These factors have resulted in lower demand from these markets causing fall in export numbers of two-wheelers,” said Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM

Moving ahead  

The impact on exports of two-wheelers is expected to continue, “Many nations have put restrictions on imports to conserve forex, which is expected to continue to impact export volumes in the near term. Nigeria, one of the key export markets, started implementing a ban on motorcycles mainly motorcycle taxis in several busy districts in Lagos in June 2022, which has also impacted the offtake,” said Rohan Kanwar Gupta, Vice President & Sector Head, Corporate Ratings, ICRA.