Demonetisation woes: Car market in India stops short of 3 mn units in 2016

Industry volume declines 2-3% in December

India, the world’s fifth-largest car market, stopped short of reaching the milestone of three million units in domestic annual sales of passenger vehicles (PVs) in 2016, as sales in November and December were muted in the wake of demonetisation. 

After a low growth of 1.82% in PV (cars, vans and utility vehicle) sales during November, the December wholesale volume (to dealers) is estimated to be two to three% lower, compared to 2015. A number of manufacturers had a shutdown, planned or otherwise, which impacted production last month. In December 2015, the industry had reported a year-on-year growth of 10.46% in