For the second year in a row, Indian vehicle sales are expected to reach a record high in 2010/11, as rising expendable incomes in a rapidly growing economy boosts consumer demand.
Dr. Pawan Goenka, President of Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), and COO, M&M (Automotive sector), in a statement this Friday said, "If we don't get any major surprises, we expect a growth of 10-15 percent for the industry,".
The Indian economy is projected to expand 8.5 percent in the financial year that started on April 1, is one of the few regions in the world where consumer demand for automobiles has been rising in double digits. Consequently, sales of vehicles including cars, utility vehicles, trucks, buses, motorcycles and scooters jumped an annual 26.4 percent in 2009/10 to 12.3 million units, according to data collated by SIAM.
This is a new high over the previous record of 10.12 million vehicles sold in 2006/07, before the global financial crisis affected consumer demand the following year.
Dr. Goenka also projected Sales of passenger vehicles, which include cars and utility vehicles, are expected to rise to 4.5 million units by 2015/16, and the total value of the auto industry to be $145 billion by the same time. "For this we need to grow at 16-17 percent annually," he said.
Dr. Goenka also cautioned that rising commodity costs, possible increase in taxes, hardening interest rates and new emissions norms pushing vehicle prices higher were the risks for the industry in the upcoming years.