India's automobile retail sales surged to a record high this November with the overall figures registered at 28,54,242 units, dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) revealed on Wednesday.
This is 18 per cent higher than 24,09,535 units sold in the year-ago period with passenger vehicle and two-wheeler segments showcasing their best ever monthly performance. The figures were collated using vehicle registration data from 1,355 out of 1,442 RTOs.
"November '23 has become a historic month for the Indian auto retail industry as 28.54 lakh vehicles were sold, thus overtaking the previous high of March '20 when the industry sold 25.69 lakh vehicles," FADA President Manish Raj Singhania said in a statement.
Registration of passenger vehicles climbed 17 per cent to 3,60,431 units as compared to 3,07,550 units in November 2022. That is 4,000 more units sold compared to the previous high of October 2022. Singhania attributed the increase in passenger vehicle registrations to Diwali sales as well as release of some new models.
Two-wheeler sales, aided by improved demand in rural outlets, new launches and better model supply, also increased to 22,47,366 units this November from 18,56,108 units in the same month last year, recording a 21 per cent growth, according to Singhania. This is a growth of 1.77 lakh more vehicles compared to the previous high of March 2020.
However, he pointed out that there was a slowdown in the days after the festive period ended. The festive period starts from the first day of Navratri and ends 15 days after Dhanteras. Going by that, the festive period in 2023 began on October 15 and ended on November 25.
Three-wheeler retail sales rose 23 per cent to 99,890 units in November 2023 compared to the November 2022 figures.
However, the sales of tractors saw a plunge of 21 per cent to 61,969 units this November from 78,720 units in the previous year. Commercial vehicle registrations also saw a marginal decline of 2 per cent with 84,586 units being sold last month.
