This July witnessed the sharpest decline in auto sales since 2000; 15k workers jobless

New Delhi: Automobile sales in India witnessed its sharpest decline in nearly 19 years in July, dropping 18.71 per cent, rendering almost 15,000 workers jobless over the past two-three months as the sector reels under a prolonged slump, auto industry body SIAM reported on Tuesday.

As per data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), vehicle sales across categories, including passenger vehicles (PVs) and two-wheelers, stood at 18,25,148 units last month as against 22,45,223 units in July 2018.

The previous biggest decline across overall domestic automobile sales was recorded in December 2000 when it fell 21.81 per cent.

Similarly, domestic PV sales also saw the biggest fall in nearly 19 years, slumping by 30.98 per cent to 2,00,790 units as compared with 2,90,931 units in the same period a year ago. Previously, the worst decline was registered in December 2000, when wholesales had fallen 35.22 per cent.

The fall in PV sales in July was also the ninth consecutive month of decline.

SIAM said passenger car sales in July were also worst since December 2000 when the segment had declined by 39.86 per cent. Last month, domestic car sales were down 35.95 per cent at 1,22,956 units as against 1,91,979 units in July 2018.

Besides, total two-wheeler sales last month declined 16.82 per cent to 15,11,692 units compared to 18,17,406 units in the year-ago month. Commercial vehicle sales were down 25.71 per cent to 56,866 units in July as compared with 76,545 units in July 2018.

"The data shows how urgent the need is for revival package from the government. " SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur told reporters here.

The revival package is necessary to arrest fall in sales and to bring back the industry on the growth path, he added.

Mathur said that almost 15,000 jobs, mostly temporary and casual workers, have already been lost in the automobile manufacturing companies over the last two to three months. Besides, over a million jobs are on the line in the automotive components segment, he added.