Vehicle registration in July falls 36% as Covid-19 worries remain a roadblock

Automobile registrations cracked by 36.27 per cent in July even though the country gradually eases Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA) said on Monday.

As India continues to open up, said FADA President Ashish Harsharaj Kale, July saw better registrations compared to June. "On a year-on-year basis, the auto sector recovery is yet to be seen anywhere near normal."

Three-wheeler registrations were down by 74.33 per cent with 15,132 registrations in July 2020 compared to 58,940 in the year-ago period.

Commercial vehicles witnessed a downswing of 72.18 per cent to 19,293 registrations versus 69,338 in July 2019, data released by FADA showed.

Two-wheeler registrations totalled 8.74 lakh last month compared to 13.98 lakh in July 2019, marking a slide of 37.47 per cent.

Passenger vehicle registrations edged lower by 25.19 per cent to 1.57 lakh from 2.1 lakh in the year-ago period. But tractor registrations rose by 37.24 per cent to 76,197 last month compared to 55,522 in the year-ago period.

That took overall vehicle registrations to 11.42 lakh in July 2020, down 36.27 per cent from 17.92 lakh in July 2019.

Kale said that current market conditions are still not indicative of the actual demand situation on an all India level and retail continue to de-grow in huge double-digit despite the low base of last year.

"Banks and NBFCs though flush with high liquidity are still having a cautious approach towards funding auto retail, affecting the demand revival especially in segments of commercial vehicles, three-wheelers and two-wheelers," he said.

FADA India represents over 15,000 automobile dealers having 25,000 dealerships including 30 associations of automobile dealers at the regional, state and city levels accounting for 90 per cent of market share.