It is reported that car exports from India in the first half of this fiscal jumped by 35.73% as major manufacturers like Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Suzuki cashed in on scrappage incentives provided in Europe, despite other segments of the auto industry witnessing decline. According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers Association, car exports during April to September stood at 210,088 units as against 154,783 units in the year ago period.
According to SIAM's latest data, the overall vehicle exports from India grew by 4.41% during the first half of this fiscal at 808,455 units as against 774,302 units during the same period of last fiscal. All other segments of the industry, however, registered decline in overseas sales in April-September period. During the period, motorcycle exports were down marginally at 497,611 units compared with 502,031 units. It added that total two wheeler exports also fell by 1.30% to 512,939 units as against 519,684 units in the year ago period.
Exports of commercial vehicles decreased to 17,466 units in the six months from 27,146 units in the corresponding period in 2008, down 35.66 per cent. SIAM said that exports of the total passenger vehicles, including utility cars, grew by 34.29% in the six months at 211,645 as against 157,601 units in the same period last year.
SIAM said that the growth in exports were largely driven by the country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India as its overseas shipments rose over two fold during April to September to 65,752 units from 29,699 units in the year ago period. Hyundai Motor India, the country's largest car exporter Hyundai reported 16.02% jump in exports at 139,971 units against 120,648 units in the same period last year.
The European Union nations had incentives buying of new cars in exchange of the old ones under a scrappage program in May that will run till February 2010. There is, however a question mark on whether car exports can sustain the momentum it witnessed in the first half of the fiscal as the scrappage scheme is subject to the condition that respective governments in the EU have not exhausted their allocated funds till the deadline.
