Low base pushes passenger vehicle retail sales up 10.6% in Feb; two-wheelers down 16.08%
Sales had grown for the first time in this fiscal in December only to decline again in January
Sumant Banerji | March 10, 2021 | Updated 23:45 IST
Data collated by Federation of Automobile Dealers Association showed passenger vehicles registered sales of 254,058 units last month, which indicated clear momentum in the revival story
Retail sales in passenger vehicles grew by a robust 10.59 percent in February helped by a low base of last year when the market was getting ready for the transition from BS IV to BS VI emissions regime. Sustained weakness in two-wheelers, which declined by over 16 percent however pushed the overall automobile sales down by 13.43 percent.
Supply chain challenges, including the rising price of steel, unavailability of semiconductors and higher container charges, continue to be obstacles in smooth functioning of industry, says Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM
Deceptive December! Auto retails decline 10% in Jan
Dealers say drop is less on account of real lack of demand and more to do with supply side constraints as manufacturers are unable to make as many vehicles as required due to a global shortage of semiconductors
Sumant Banerji | February 9, 2021 | Updated 23:38 IST
PV sales saw a 4.5 per cent drop at 2,81,666 units
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
Retail sale of automobiles declined by 9.66% in January at 1.59 million units after posting an 11% growth in December.
Sale of passenger vehicles declined by 4.5%, two wheelers by 8.8%, commercial vehicles by 25% and three wheelers by 51.3%
Tractors once again provided the sole silver lining with a 11% growth over last January
The policy for $6-billion-per-annum domestic vehicle scrapping and recycling market has raised hopes of sustainable recovery for the down-and-out automobile industry
Representative image
Tamil Nadu has roads that are among the deadliest in the country, but four major road safety projects proposed in the state have remained on paper for years now. Though tenders were floated for some projects and funds were sanctioned, nothing has materialised. Despite repeated attempts, TN road safety commissioner Tenkasi S Jawahar was unavailable to answer questions on why the four projects are being delayed.
ANPR system
In February 2018, the government had proposed to introduce a speed violation detection system (SVDS) along Chennai-Trichy national highway (NH45), which reports around 100 accidents a year. The system was to consist of speed sensors, ANPR cameras and a control centre. Any vehicle which crossed the speed limit of 100km per hour will be caught using 56 sensors fitted at multiple points on the 270km stretch. These sensors will trigger an image capture command to ANPR cameras. A total of 168 cameras were supposed to be installed. The control cen