Marginal gains in India’s March Light Vehicle wholesales – GlobalData

GlobalData

Wed, May 14, 2025, 4:28 AM 3 min read

In March, Light Vehicle (LV) wholesales successful India experienced a humble summation of 1% month-on-month (MoM), totaling 446k units. Although this represented a flimsy improvement, the year-on-year (YoY) maturation complaint was much important astatine 5%.

Passenger Vehicle (PV) income saw a 2% MoM and 5% YoY summation to 380k units. Additionally, the full for Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs) with a gross conveyance value of up to 6 tons reached 66k units, reflecting a 3% MoM alteration but a 7% YoY gain.

March began with subdued request owed to the inauspicious Kharmas period. However, arsenic the period progressed, income volumes recovered, supported by fiscal year-end depreciation benefits and charismatic incentives. Nonetheless, liquidity challenges and determination pockets of debased demand, on with weaker GDP growth, had a detrimental impact.

Retail income of PVs and LCVs successful March roseate by 15% MoM to 403k units, compared to 349k units successful February and 522k units successful January, according to information from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). PV retail income accrued by 16% MoM, portion LCV income grew by 15% MoM.

The early-month weakness, attributed to the Kharmas period, was counterbalanced by a surge successful the last week, driven by festivals specified arsenic Navratri, Gudi Padwa, Eid, and year-end depreciation benefits, arsenic reported by FADA.

Retail income successful the PV conception peculiarly benefited from discounting, impending terms hikes, and festive purchasing. New exemplary introductions and improved variant availability besides contributed to growth. However, these affirmative factors were tempered by liquidity constraints and localized areas of anemic demand, FADA noted.

Consequently, PV inventory levels accrued to 50-55 days astatine the extremity of March, compared to 50-52 days successful February and 50-55 days successful January, according to FADA.

Meanwhile, full LV income successful Q1 2025 grew by 4% YoY to implicit 1.3 cardinal units. This fig included 1.1 cardinal PVs (+3% YoY) and 200k LCVs (+10% YoY).

At the onset of 2025, India's economical momentum seemed to falter aft immoderate betterment successful precocious 2024. Domestic depletion exhibited signs of deceleration, with unemployment remaining elevated, particularly successful municipality areas.

Internationally, reduced imports and diminished planetary request presented challenges. Trade policies are successful flux, with import duties anticipated to emergence significantly, though India maintains definite competitory advantages implicit determination rivals. Inflation has remained stable, supported by little lipid prices and robust harvest yields.

In response, the Reserve Bank of India has relaxed monetary argumentation by lowering its cardinal involvement complaint to 6% to bolster the betterment amidst escalating risks. This marks the 2nd consecutive simplification since February. It is anticipated that different complaint chopped whitethorn hap astatine the adjacent gathering successful June.