A strong performance by the commercial vehicles segment and some light commercial vehicles could not lift Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.'s (M&M) overall sales, which fell 6 percent in April.
Sales declined to 39,357 units as compared to 41,863 units during the corresponding period last year.
Commercial vehicles sales increased 16 percent to 15,066 units on a year-on-year while sales of light commercial vehicles less than 3.5 tonnes rose 21 percent to 14,360 units in the same period.
Among segmental laggards, sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles declined 41 percent to 278 units primarily after the Supreme Court order banning the sale of the older Bharat Stage III (BS-III) compliant vehicles from April 1.
Sale of light commercial vehicles higher than 3.5 tonnes declined 33 percent year-on-year, while the passenger and utility vehicles segments declined 15 percent each.
The management expects a normal monsoon and the government's infrastructure to drive positive sentiment going forward.
We are hopeful that the new financial year will bring in positive sentiments for the automotive industry with the key demand drivers in place. Going forward, we are looking for a good growth momentum with our planned refreshes during FY18.Rajan Wadhera, President - Automotive Sector, M&M
Tractor Sales Outperform
The company's tractor business registered a robust 22 percent growth in April to 26,001 units as compared to the corresponding quarter last year.
While domestic sales grew 21 percent to 25,081 units, exports rose 35 percent to 920 units compared to 682 units in the year-ago period.
We expect that the prediction of a normal monsoon coupled with the expectation of a good rabi crop will boost tractor demand in the coming months.Rajesh Jejurikar, President - Farm Equipment Sector, M&M
Shares gained as much as 4.5 percent on the BSE at 3 pm on Tuesday.
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