Summary Car sales in India fell by over 10 percent in April, industry data showed Friday.
MUMBAI (AFP) - Car sales in India fell by over 10 percent in April, industry data showed Friday, as the country s once red-hot car market reels from high ownership costs, costly fuel and an economic downturn.
The sales drop was the sixth monthly fall in a row and marked the longest stretch of decline since the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) began keeping records six years ago.
"We have never seen a successive monthly decline of six months," said SIAM s senior director Sugato Sen, who called the latest numbers "not good".
Domestic passenger car sales, seen as a pointer to overall economic health, fell by 10.43 percent to 150,789 vehicles in April from 168,354 units in the same month a year earlier.
Sluggish demand has forced automakers to introduce "buy now, pay later" schemes, interest-free repayments and double-digit discounts.
Sen said he expected the market to remain sluggish for another two to three months, but added that demand could pick up once auto loans become cheaper.
India s central bank last week cut its main interest rate by 25 basis points -- its third such reduction this year -- in an effort to kickstart economic growth.
The Congress-led government expects at least six percent growth this year after the economy grew by an estimated five percent in the previous year, its lowest rate in a decade.
Domestic passenger car sales fell by 6.7 percent in the year to March 2013 from a year earlier to 1.89 million units, the first time they had shrunk in 10 years.
India s car sales are projected to grow by three-to-five percent for the 12 months to March 2014, according to SIAM, but this is far below the record 30-percent rise notched up in 2010-11.
