Sale Of Scooters In India Drop For The First Time In 13 Years — Here’s What’s Happening!

The Indian two-wheeler market is one of the largest in the world. However, over the past couple of months, the two-wheeler sales in the country has been witnessing slow sales. Scooter sales in the market, which accounts for over one-third of the total two-wheeler sales in the country has dropped for the first time in 13 years.

Scooter recorded a total of 67 lakh units of sales in FY 2018-19 which is 0.27 percent down on the sales of the previous fiscal year. The last time, scooters recorded a drop in sales was back during FY 2005-06, where it recorded a decline of 1.5 percent sales.

Two-Wheeler (Scooter) Sales In India

According to reports from TOI, one of the main reasons for the slow two-wheeler sales and decline in scooter sales is the building pressure on the jobs front. This decline is further affected by the pain in rural and semi-urban areas.

Sales of two-wheelers including scooters and motorcycles have been negative since January. Many scooter or two-wheeler brands in the country have even cut down on production and dealer dispatch of two-wheelers, realising this trend. This includes major brands like TVS, Honda Motorcycle & Scooters India (HMSI) and also Hero MotoCorp; the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer.

Two-Wheeler (Scooter) Sales In India

Rajan Wadhera, President SIAM, stated that the situation regarding job security is just one of the many reasons for the decline of the passenger vehicle segment in the country. Other reasons also include the upcoming general election season, along with the rising cost of insurance and fuel across the country.

VG Ramakrishnan, Industry Analyst, stated that the impact of jobs/unemployment on the sales of passenger vehicles has been underestimated. Since GST came into play, a number of companies have reduced. This has not only led to unemployment, but also the uncertainty of the job at hand.

Two-Wheeler (Scooter) Sales In India

However, this has not only affected large metros, but rural markets as well. Many two-wheeler manufacturers have stated that there is now little to no traction left in the rural market for scooter sales. The rural market, accounts to 50 percent of the total motorcycle sales, however, currently brands are struggling to reach the sales numbers.

However, it is not just scooters, passenger vehicles which include cars and vans have also recorded a continuous decline in overall sales in the market — check our latest car sales report for the month of March 2019.

Thoughts On The Declining Scooter Sales In India

Two-wheeler sales, especially scooters has been witnessing a decline for a number of months now. However, this trend is set to keep declining over the next couple of months as well. Unemployment and rural/farmer sentiments are one of the main reasons for the decline. It will be interesting to see how the market will vary once the elections in the country are over.

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Read more on: #auto news
Article Published On: Wednesday, April 10, 2019, 14:27 [IST]
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