Auto sales in Agra down after Mulayam fair

After the big sales during the December trade fair in UP Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav's home village Sefai, the automobile market of Agra is facing a slump.

Though the fair was a boon to the auto dealers of Agra, who earned Rs 100 crore in December, it has also cost the state's exchequer Rs 15 crore.

Now sales have dropped to almost 30 per cent of those expected during the month (January is when sales pick up), with only vehicles that cost more than Rs 7 lakh selling currently.

According to the UP trade tax department sources, the auto dealers of Agra had sold about 6,100 vehicles, ranging from two-wheelers to mid-range four-wheelers and even tractors. This was an unexpected boost to the auto business in the usually "cold" month of December, and most auto buyers who were planning to purchase vehicles in January or February had made their purchases in the Sefai trade fair to avail themselves of the huge trade tax benefit offered on the auto purchases made during the fair.

Besides Agra, auto dealers of nearby districts like Firozabad, Mainpuri and Meerut sold out their stocks of 1,500 vehicles in this trade fair. According to sources, auto dealers of Agra earned about Rs 100 crore from the trade fair, a business which could have earned about Rs 13.53 crore as trade tax for the state.

The Meerut zone lost Rs 1.25 crore and the trade tax loss from Mainpuri-Firozabad is being estimated at approximately Rs 46.67 lakh.

In view of this deficit in trade tax recovery, the local trade tax officials have now asked the state government for a reduction in the January trade tax target of Rs 54.47 crore by Rs 14 crore, citing the low recovery of trade tax due to the reduction in auto sales during January.