SIAM

New Delhi: Automobile industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) has estimated the passenger vehicle (PV) segment to clock 3%-5% growth during the ongoing fiscal year. This comes as against a 5%-8% growth estimate during the beginning of FY 2024-25.

For the April to September 2024 period, PV dispatches recorded 20.81 lakh units to mark a marginal growth over 20.70 lakh units in the corresponding period of last year.

During a press conference on Monday, Shailesh Chandra, President of SIAM said the first half of the year (April-September) was expected to post growth. While that did not happen, he expressed optimism for the festive season to spur the demand.

“The triangulated view at the beginning of the fiscal year was 5%-8% growth. The expectation for H1 was slightly better. It was a slight surprise, especially May and June, which did not go as per our expectations. May and June affected us badly,” he said.

Sales went up in September but they were offset by the Shraadh period. That is the reason the industry expects a sub-5% growth in FY25, he said.

Pinning hope on the festive season, the newly elected SIAM President, who is also the Managing Director of Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility, said the second half of the year has a big burden now and hopefully it should be able to deliver on the growth expectations.

He said that the PV retail sales have shown a growth of about 30%-35% during the first 12 days of October, when compared to the previous month.

The festive season is also expected to help moderate the inventory levels, he added.