This Indian city sees 6.52% decline in motorcycle sales in first half of FY'23

The sale of motorcycles has declined by 6.52% in Andhra Pradesh (AP) in the first half of 2022-23 financial year. It is surprising because AP is the only state in the country that has shown a negative growth in this segment, leaving everyone concerned baffled over the situation. Two-wheeler sales grew by 26.05 per cent across the country in the first half of this financial year, compared to the corresponding period last year, as per official data.

Andhra Pradesh registered a negative growth of 1.76 per cent in all categories of vehicle sales in the first half of the financial year. The state's CM Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy asked the Transport Department authorities to "create a conducive situation in AP" compared to other states, and push up the sales of automobiles.

The Transport Department officials are now engaging vehicle manufacturers to find out the cause of depressing auto sales and work out a possible solution to boost growth. The government had scheduled a brain-storming session with all vehicle manufacturers on October 26 but it got cancelled after the Principal Secretary (Transport) was replaced.

Between April and September 2021, the state sold 3,31,695 motorbikes but the number fell to 3,10,054 during the same period in 2022, marking a 6.52 per cent decline. At the national level, 67,27,806 bikes were sold in the first half of this year, up 26.05 per cent from 53,37,389 last year.

Neighbouring states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have shown robust growth figures of 58.06 and 31.52 per cent, respectively. Vehicle dealers came out with different reasons for the negative trend, particularly in two-wheeler sales.