Truck rentals on trunk routes have increased by 9-14 per cent during the April-September period. The rise was attributed to active support of cargo availability from small and medium manufacturing enterprises, exports, food, cereal and oil seeds.
The surge in truck rentals is despite resistance from corporate truck hirers witnessing stifled manufacturing growth, enabling the truckers to comfortably pass on the diesel price, tyre price, third party motor insurance hikes, increased vehicle price and auto finance cost during the first six months of this financial year. During the first half (H1) of the last financial year, the increase in truck rentals on trunk routes was in the range of 10-12 per cent.
Moreover, the truck sales (5 tonne-49 tonne) joined the party with double-digit 10.5 per cent sales growth during the H1 of 2011 over the same period last year.
| RISING RENTALS Full truck load (16.2-tonne gross vehicle weight) In Rs per round trip | ||
| Trunk Route | Rate Movement (per round trip) | |
| Average for H1 of FY11 | Average for H1 of FY12 | |
| Delhi-Mumbai-Delhi | 50,483 | 55,450 (+9.11%) |
| Delhi-Nagpur-Delhi | 48,933 | 53,617 (+10.06%) |
| Delhi-Kolkata-Delhi | 56,917 | 56,500(+12.43%) |
| Delhi-Guwahati-Delhi | 86,917 | 99,400(+9.51%) |
| Delhi-Hyderabad-Delhi | 69,483 | 74,950(+11.23%) |
| Delhi-Chennai-Delhi | 79,933 | 86,983(+8.37%) |
| Delhi-Bangalore-Delhi | 73,617 | 85,167(+8.84%) |
| Delhi-Ranchi-Delhi | 49,550 | 54,667(+9.92%) |
| Delhi-Raipur-Delhi | 46,067 | 53,083(+9.79%) |
| Delhi - Kandla-Delhi | 37,467 | 40,567(+14.45%) |
| Delhi - Bilaspur-Delhi | 39,017 | 52,717(+12.00%) |
| H1 stands for the April-September period; SOURCE : IFTRT | ||
Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training (IFTRT) in its report said the cargo despatches to tier-I and tier-II cities, having closer proximity to rural consumers, displayed major spurt in comparison to metro cities during September and helped the truck rentals rule firm. “The IFTRT has been monitoring the truck freight movement on the 75 trunk routes engaging leading trade and transport centres. The cargo availability from fruit and vegetables remain timid during September. During the entire half there had lower dispatches to Agriculture Produce Marketing Committees due to lower production because of excessive rains in producing centres and increased demand of fruits and vegetables by the rural and semi urban consumers. This led to lesser cargo to truck operators from these items," explained SP Singh, senior fellow and coordinator, IFTRT.
According to Singh, rest of the financial year may remain positive for road transport, industry/trade and the economy, unless there is phenomenal downward trend in the entire economy due to global slowdown.