New vehicle registrations declined 15% in Maha in 2019

In a sign of the slowdown in the auto-industry, registrations of new vehicles dipped by 15 per cent in Maharashtra in 2019 and led to low revenue collection, data provided by the state Road Transport Department showed.

Maharashtra is one of the largest auto markets in the country.

The department had set itself a low revenue target for financial year 2019-20, but as of November, even that target appears to be difficult to achieve.

It can be noted that since FY15, the department, one of the top revenue-mopping agencies for the state, has delivered revenues higher than the target.

For 2019-20, the department aimed to collect ₹8,249 crore in taxes and other levies from vehicle registrations, against ₹8,672 crore in 2018-19.

As of November 2019, it had collected only ₹5,466 crore.

As per the data, there was a 15 per cent decline in new vehicle registrations, which stood at 23.10 lakh in calendar year 2019 against 27.14 lakh in 2018.

"Nearly two lakh fewer vehicles were registered in the state in April-November period. This will impact the department's revenue collections," state transport commissioner Shekhar Channe told PTI earlier this week.

But the department is hopeful of achieving the target by the end of the fiscal year, he added.

Only 16.92 lakh new two-wheelers were registered in the state in 2019, against 19.69 lakh previous year.

Four-wheeler sales slid to 3.66 lakh in 2019 from 3.97 lakh in 2018, while three-wheeler registrations too dipped at 95,808 against 1.72 lakh in 2018.

Registrations of small goods carriers declined to 76,182 from 80,063 in 2018, it revealed.

According to the data, there are 3.53 crore registered vehicles in the state, which has a population of over 11 crore.

Across the country, all sectors of the auto industry were battered by the economic slow down in 2019. The industry is expected to close 2019-20 with a decline of 13-17 per cent in wholesale dispatches.

Meanwhile, the latest road accident statistics for Maharashtra indicated a dip in number of accidents by 7.4 per cent.

The number of fatalities dropped by 5.2 percent and number of injured by 8 per cent, as of November 2019.