New Delhi, Dec 10 (FN Agency) The paucity in supply of semi-conductors dragged down domestic sales of passenger vehicles in the month of November, 2021 by 19 per cent year-on-year to 215,626 units as the shortages hit vehicle production and consecutive deliveries to dealer partners. The sales of passenger vehicles, which includes cars, utility vehicles and vans was 264,898 units in November 2020, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers said on Friday. As per data on monthly performance released by the auto body, three-wheeler sales was 22,471 units in November, 2021 as against 24,071 units in November, 2020. Total two-wheeler sales declined sharply by 34 per cent to 10,50,616 units last month from 16,00,379 units in the year-ago period.
Altogether, sales in the month of November, 2021, according to Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM were lowest in seven years for passenger vehicles, lowest in 11 years for two-wheelers and lowest in 19 years for three-wheelers. “Industry continues to face headwinds due to global semi-conductor shortage. In the festive season, Industry was hoping to make up for the lost ground. Amidst the rising threat of Omicron, the new Covid variant, industry is pro-actively ensuring employee safety and monitoring any supply chain hiccups,” said Menon. Reflecting the increasing popularity of UV’s, Indians bought 105,091 units of the vehicles in November 2021 as compared to 100,906 units of passenger cars sold in the month. The current year has seen a boom in UV sales, which were 103,525 units in November, 2020, as against the much higher volumes of passenger cars sold in November, 2020, which were 149,949 units.
The government has brought in a Production Linked Scheme for the automobile and auto components sector to support the industry by incentivising manufacturing of high technology automobile and auto components in India. The programme will lead to fresh investment of over Rs 42,500 crore and create additional employment opportunities of over 7.5 lakh jobs. The automobile sector is a key driver of India’s economic growth and the largest contributor to the manufacturing sector. The industry contributes to nearly 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP and 35 per cent of manufacturing GDP and is a leading employment provider. In value terms, the Indian automotive industry is ranked number 11 in the world.