Here's how many Royal Enfield bikes were sold in India in pandemic-hit May

Royal Enfield has informed that it sold 20,073 units of motorcycles in May, a month that has been an uphill struggle for automotive companies in India owing to lockdowns and restrictions in place across the country due to Covid-19 pandemic. The company exported another 7,221 units but the total of 27,294 units was down 49% when compared to the total figure of 53,298 units from April.

The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic has been a massive challenge for the country at larger with several sectors facing the brunt of state-imposed lockdowns and restrictions. While demand across the auto sector has been subdued, production and retail activities have also taken a hit. "Production activity at Royal Enfield plants in Chennai, and retail networks across the country were impacted due to local lockdowns," a statement from Royal Enfield confirmed.

The month of May in the last year was also a mammoth challenge as the country only just started to gradually emerge from the national lockdown which had been imposed from March end of 2020. In May of last year, Royal Enfield had sold a total of 19,113 units and while comparisons between that month and the last month may not show the real picture, the company has managed a 43% year-on-year growth.

What lies ahead is what is rather ambiguous currently. Industry experts believe that there could well be a resurgence in supply and demand in the months to come but much of the auto industry's fate would depend on the speed of vaccination in the country and how a third wave - predicted for September-October - is handled by authorities here.

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