MH-VEHICLE-REGISTRATION

New vehicle registrations declined 15 per cent in Maha in 2019
    By Kailash Korde
    Mumbai, Jan 3 (PTI) In a sign of the slowdown in the
auto-industry, registrations of new vehicles dipped by 15 per
cent in Maharashtra in 2019 and led to low revenue collection,
data provided by the state Road Transport Department showed.
    Maharashtra is one of the largest auto markets in the
country.
    The department had set itself a low revenue target
for financial year 2019-20, but as of November, even that
target appears to be difficult to achieve.
    It can be noted that since FY15, the department, one
of the top revenue-mopping agencies for the state, has
delivered revenues higher than the target.
    For 2019-20, the department aimed to collect Rs 8,249
crore in taxes and other levies from vehicle registrations,
against Rs 8,672 crore in 2018-19.
    As of November 2019, it had collected only Rs 5,466
crore.
    As per the data, there was a 15 per cent decline in
new vehicle registrations, which stood at 23.10 lakh in
calendar year 2019 against 27.14 lakh in 2018.
    "Nearly two lakh fewer vehicles were registered in the
state in April-November period. This will impact the
department's revenue collections," state transport
commissioner Shekhar Channe told PTI earlier this week.
    But the department is hopeful of achieving the
target by the end of the fiscal year, he added.
    Only 16.92 lakh new two-wheelers were registered in
the state in 2019, against 19.69 lakh previous year.
    Four-wheeler sales slid to 3.66 lakh in 2019 from 3.97
lakh in 2018, while three-wheeler registrations too dipped at
95,808 against 1.72 lakh in 2018.
    Registrations of small goods carriers declined to
76,182 from 80,063 in 2018, it revealed.
    According to the data, there are 3.53 crore registered
vehicles in the state, which has a population of over 11
crore.
    Across the country, all sectors of the auto industry
were battered by the economic slow down in 2019. The industry
is expected to close 2019-20 with a decline of 13-17 per cent
in wholesale dispatches.
    Meanwhile, the latest road accident statistics for
Maharashtra indicated a dip in number of accidents by 7.4 per
cent.
    The number of fatalities dropped by 5.2 percent and
number of injured by 8 per cent, as of November 2019. PTI KK
ARU KRK
ARU ARU

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)