Car sales up 20 % in March, rise 2.2 % in FY 2012

March 2012 saved the FY 2011-12 from being the worst year in terms of growth in car sales. The car industry suffered a major blow in the first half of the year due to the high interest rates and ever-increasing fuel prices. The industry somehow got back on track and witnessed an increase in sales for 5 straight months. March '12 was the fifth month and registered a growth of 20 percent in the car sales whereas the total growth figure for FY 2011-12 stumbled at meek 2.2 percent. July 2011 saw a steep fall in the demand for the cars in India the first time in three years as the buyers hesitated to go forward with the purchase because of the increasing interest rates and fuel costs.

As per the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers' (SIAM) data, the auto manufacturers of India together sold 2.02 million cars in the FY 2011-12. The overall sales figures for the month of March stand at 229,866 units of cars. The sales of motorcycles saw a growth of 1.2 percent in March ‘12 and a total growth of 12 percent in the FY 2011-12. The sale of trucks and buses indicate the rate of economic activity going on in the country; the sales figure for the same saw an increase of 14.8 percent in March '12 and an overall increase of 18.2 percent in the FY 2011-12.