India's largest passenger-vehicle maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, expects double-digit growth in retail sales for the festival season from Onam to Diwali this year, according to a senior company official.
"Maruti Suzuki will have double-digit growth in the whole festival season," the automaker's Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales, Partho Banerjee, told PTI on Wednesday when asked about the outlook.
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The provisional data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations showed that passenger vehicle registration during this year's Navratri period (Oct.11 to 20) fell 21.9%t to 1.83 lakh units on a year-on-year basis because of a high base in the comparable year.
However, Banerjee noted that Maruti Suzuki's vehicle deliveries during this year's Navratri period were almost similar to last year. "Deliveries are almost the same in the Navratri period this year versus last year; we are around 98% of last year's deliveries," he said.
He said the company's deliveries from the start of the Onam period to Dussehra grew around 30% year on year, while deliveries between Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussehra rose 35%.
The festival season is generally considered from the start of the Onam period to Diwali. This period also includes Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra and Dhanteras, along with the Shradh period.
Auto sales from Onam to the first day of Navratri last year were weak as consumers held back purchases, expecting a reduction in the GST. This created a low base for comparing this year's Onam-Navratri sales during the same period last year.
However, the period from the first day of Navratri to Diwali last year saw a sharp surge in sales with GST rate cut coming into effect on the first day of Navratri. This created a high base for comparing Navratri-Diwali sales this year with last year's.
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“For small cars, our growth from Ganesh Chaturthi to Dussehra is to the tune of 16-17%...SUV volumes have doubled because we have been able to increase the supplies of Victoris and the Brezza," Banerjee said.
"We began October with pending bookings of around 2 lakh units, which have increased to 2.7 lakh units after Dussehra. We are making every effort to maximise deliveries and serve our customers. With this strong demand momentum, we expect the positive trend to continue and anticipate double-digit growth for the whole festive period till Diwali."
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