As India moves into festive season as well as a 5-state Assembly election frenzy (followed by the big one early summer), this could well be the news that would warm the cockles of the Modi government’s heart — that 2-wheeler retail sales have finally picked up in the country, after the devastation of the pandemic.
According to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), sales of bikes and scooters have increased 22% last month compared to sales in the same month last year. Even more happily, they’ve picked up 2% compared to pre-pandemic figures.
“In contrast to pre-Covid benchmarks, auto sector has seen an uplift of 14%, with two-wheelers registering a growth for the first time,” said FADA president Manish Raj Singhania.
Why is this tiny statistic announced on Monday morning so significant? Two-wheeler sales are an important indicator of the financial well-being of India’s villages. And the prognosis all this while since Covid-19 struck in early 2020 has not been good.
2W sales had remained consistently down compared to the pre-pandemic ‘normal’ figures, even after other sections of the economy picked up pace in the months and year following the initial lockdown and the devastating Second Wave. Even amongst other areas of automobiles, recovery was distinctly quick and significant, especially in uptick of SUVs etc.
However 2W sales remaining down meant that the rural economy was still to recover — th e great migration following the lockdown, the impact of the Second Wave, the logistical issues of supply and demand mismatch, the weather fluctuations all seemed to have had an impact.
But now, it seems the rural regions have finally turned a corner, and they couldn’t have come at a better time for the government or corporate India — the latter, because this means the upcoming Diwali festive season sales promise to be a bumper, while for the former, a happy electorate in the hinterland is good news when you go into crucial elections.
The overall sales uptick in September — the only area which is seeing a drop is tractor sales, has made FADA confident enough to raise its outlook from ‘cautiously optimistic’ to now ‘optimistic’. FADA says that with good liquidity and inventory, the auto dealers across the country are set for a bumper 40-plus day festive season sale, once the inauspicious Shraddh period gets over early next week.
