India's vehicle sales climb 19% in festive season: dealers' body

Vehicle sales in India rose 19% during a 42-day festive season, boosted mainly by strong demand for two wheelers in rural areas, an auto dealers' body said on Tuesday.

Indians generally make big-ticket purchases on items like vehicles during the festive season, which kicked off in mid-October this year and ran till Nov. 25.

Two-wheeler sales surged about 21% in the period to 2.9 million units, data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) showed.

"Record-breaking sales were reported in several categories, with rural areas particularly contributing to the surge in two-wheeler purchases," FADA, which provides monthly data on dealer sales, said in a statement.

Two-wheeler makers' sakes to dealers inched closer to pre-pandemic volumes in October due to strong festive demand and discounts on entry-level models, data showed earlier this month.

Sales of three wheelers advanced 41%, while those of passenger vehicles (PVs) climbed around 10% to 547,246 units, FADA added.

"Tractors, which saw an 8.3% decrease in sales during Navratri, made a remarkable recovery, ending the festive period with only a 0.5% decrease," FADA said.

Tractor sales, a key indicator of rural economy, slipped 0.4% following a 10% fall in September.

Caution remains around PV inventories as original equipment manufacturers continue to push further dispatch, keeping inventory rate at near all-time highs, FADA said, adding that sport utility vehicles (SUVs) were the most-demanded.