The inventory levels of passenger vehicles will improve by the end of December, down substantially from 30-35 days currently, said market leaders Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) and Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) on Friday.
The companies reported single-digit growth in domestic wholesales (dispatches to dealers) in November on a yearly basis, compared to the same month last year. MSIL reported a 1.33 per cent year-on-year growth in domestic sales at 1,34,158 units during the month, compared to 1,32,395 units in November 2022.
“For the month of November, the industry sales were 3,35,354 units against 3,22,600 units from last year. That’s a growth of 3.9 per cent...retail is little higher than wholesale, that is the estimate we are having at this moment. Retails were 3,48,422 against 2,84,660 retail of last year,” Shashank Srivastava, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, MSIL, told reporters.
The retail growth has been quite positive, which is 22.4 per cent for the industry; for MSIL, the retail was 1,30,600 in November, against 1,14,700 in the same month of last year. That is a growth of around 14 per cent y-o-y, he said.
According to Tarun Garg, Chief Operating Officer, HMIL, the projections of the domestic PV industry for the new calendar year is expected to be around 4.12 million (y-o-y growth of 8 per cent), and projections of Hyundai is around 6.02 lakh units (y-o-y growth of 9 per cent).
“We are entering December with a stock level of only 35,000 units, which is only three weeks of stock...so we are at a comfortable stock level and we believe that going forward into January, probably it would reduce further to two weeks of stock,” said Garg.
The company registered a wholesale growth of three per cent in November to 49,451 units, compared to 48,002 units in the corresponding month last year.
‘Nexon’ maker Tata Motors reported domestic sales of 46,068 units during the month, against 46,037 units in November 2022.
Companies like Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Honda Cars India and Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) reported a double-digit growth in their domestic sales during the same month. However, Kia India, Skoda India, Renault India and Volkswagen India reported a decline in sales during the month.
In the two-wheeler segment, the industry showcased a comeback with all the manufacturers including Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor India and Royal Enfield reporting a double digit growth on YoY basis.
In the commercial vehicle segment, the industry reported a mixed trend during the month.
In the tractor segment, both M&M and Escorts Kubota reported a growth in their respective sales in the domestic market.