The Nifty Auto index slipped 0.68% to 5,803.85.
Among index components, Tata Motors (down 6.09%), Mahindra & Mahindra (down 3.94%) and Bajaj Auto (down 3.22%) declined.Eicher Motors (up 3.68%), Hero MotoCorp (up 2.68%), Escorts (up 2.57%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 2.12%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.66%) and TVS Motor Company (up 0.88%) advanced.
The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on behalf of its members has once again approached the Supreme Court and has filed an Interlocutory Application along with an Application seeking modification in the writ petition in the matter of M. C. Mehta Vs Union Of India & Others, dated 24 October 2018 whereby it has been directed that "no motor vehicle conforming to emission standard Bharat Stage-IV shall be sold or registered in the entire country with effect from 01 April 2020."
FADA President Ashish Harsharaj Kale said, "Post our Initial Application, necessitated due to huge unsold BS-IV inventory and slowing sales, getting rejected by the Apex Court on 14 February 2020, there has been a drastic change in circumstances in conducting business as usual. SARS-CoV-2 a.k.a coronavirus (Covid-19) which emerged in Wuhan in the Hubei province of China has spread rapidly across the Globe and also in India.
Following this in the past week there has been drastic drop in sales and customer walk-ins have reduced to a trickle as caution sets in due to fear of spreading of the virus. Counter sales has fallen by 60-70% across auto dealerships in these past few days.
The situation has worsened in the past 3-4 days with partial lockdown situation in many towns and cities and few district magistrates have started issuing notices of closure of shops and establishments including auto dealerships to stop the spread of virus."
He further added, "Owning to situations which are beyond our control and the fact that many of our members may face dealership closures if leftover with unsold BS-IV Stocks, FADA has once again approached the Apex Body with a request for permission of sale and registration of BS-IV vehicles till 31 May 2020 and hopes to get an urgent hearing in the Supreme Court owing to the criticality of the issue and the deadline of 31 March approaching fast."
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