Finally, there is something that the Indian auto industry can look forward to, after quite a long time. The deterring slowdown in the overall growth, which has subjugated the industry, has caused a great concern among the car makers in India. Recently, the Parliament was informed about the good news. It was conveyed to the Parliament that the Indian automobile industry is expected to attain a hike in the turnover of the fiscal year 2012. The turnover is believed to reach a figure of up to Rs. 2.1 lac crore.
Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Praful Patel said, in a written statement to the Lok Sabha, that the overall growth rate of automobile and component industries during the last two years managed to achieve double figures, which proved to be quite high compared to the figures that were speculated by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). In context of the growth rate, Praful Patel said in the statement that, "...however, the rate of growth during the current year is expected to come down significantly."
If the growth rate of the present year is kept aside and the turnover aspect is underlined, the automobile sector would improve in the future. Patel said the auto industry is likely to raise the bar with a turnover that is expected to fall in the range of Rs. 2.04 lac crore to Rs 2.10 lac crore in 2011-12. The turnover of fiscal year 2012 is 12 to 15 percent high than the previous time. In the last fiscal year, the industry registered a turnover of Rs. 1.82 lac crore, a growth of 34.2 percent with sales of 1,55,13,156 units.
During the time period from April-July, the automobile industry recorded a sale of 54,21,089 units this fiscal, that concluded an improvement of 13.55 percent over the same period in 2010-11.
However, the growth rate in the industry has been continuously facing a downfall. If SIAM is to be believed, the growth rate projection for vehicle sales in the country may lower furthermore, from the 11 to 13 percent mark, which was announced two months earlier. Domestic car sales in August was in a very abysmal state, with the three leading car manufacturers namely Maruti Suzuki India, Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors showing a decline in monthly figures.
The trend never indicated signs of getting tired, as in July too, the domestic passenger car sales had a downfall, albeit for the first time after 30 months of incessant growth. The segment recorded a decrease of 15.76 percent, mainly due to swelled up lending rates and lower production by the auto market leader Maruti Suzuki in the month.
However, the future ahead seems to overpower the slowdown as SIAM has speculated that the sales of the passenger vehicles in the domestic market is likely to improve. It is expected to achieve a figure of 5.6 million units in 2017, as compared to 2.2 million units per year at the present time.
