Auto sales touch 1 mn in 2003-04

India's passenger vehicle sales have surged 32 per cent to 1.03 million units during 2003-04, driving the country into the elite club of nations with over 1 million annual passenger vehicle sales.

The sales are expected to grow 10-15 per cent in this financial year as the automobile market will reap the benefits of higher demand because of better economic growth and infrastructure, cuts in excise duty and cheaper finance schemes, Jagdish Khattar, president, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), said at a press conference yesterday.

The export of automobiles has also jumped 56 per cent to 470,350 units during 2003-04, touching the $1 billion mark for the first time.

Of the total 1.03 million passenger vehicles sold during the last financial year, domestic sales went up 27.3 per cent to 900,752 units, while exports climbed 79.6 per cent to 129,316 units.

The total sale of trucks and buses also stood higher by 36.7 per cent to 277,572 units, while that of two-wheelers and three-wheelers increased by 12.8 and 22.5 per cent to 5.62 million and 336,840 units, respectively.

"The outlook for 2004-05 is promising and it is expected that the current growth rates of GDP and industrial output will be sustainable, which would ensure robust growth in the automotive sector," Khattar, who is also the managing director of Maruti Udyog, said.

He, however, said the government should rationalise taxes, cut distortion in fuel prices and try to control rising input costs to step up automobile sales in the country.

Auto analysts said the growth in car sales in the future would mainly come from the compact and mid-size segments.

Domestic sale of compact cars surged by 23.4 per cent to 369,537 units and that of mid-size cars by 51 per cent to 139,304 units during 2003-04. Khattar said the growth in the commercial vehicle segment was helped by medium and commercial vehicles, especially multi-axles, whose share has jumped to about 40 per cent from 5 per cent earlier.

He predicted that commercial vehicles sales would grow by 12-15 per cent, two-wheelers by 10-15 per cent and three-wheelers by 10-15 per cent respectively during this financial year.