Total Vehicle Retails for the month of May’21 fell by -54.79%

FADA Releases May’21 Vehicle Retail Data

• Total Vehicle Retails for the month of May’21 fell by -54.79% MoM and -70.69% when compared to May’19. All categories on MoM saw bloodbath as 2W, 3W, PV, Tractor and CV fell by -53%, -76%, -59%, -57% and -66% respectively.
• The first 9 days of June saw a better start than expected due to pent up demand. At this pace June’21 may result in almost equivalent sales when compared to June’20.
• Overall demand recovery to be slow as rural markets continue to struggle with post covid effects.
• FADA thanks all OEMs which have announced financial package for Auto Dealers and once again appeals to all those, who are yet to announce a similar financial package like last year.
• FADA also requests the Prime Minister to instruct RBI to grant moratorium for Auto Dealers and release guidelines for relaxation of loan re-payment equivalent to number of days of lockdown each state has been declaring.

10^th June’21, New Delhi: The Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) today released Monthly Vehicle Retail Data for May’21.

May’21 Retails

Unlike other months, we can’t represent a YoY comparison since India was under complete lockdown in May 2020. Hence, all comparisons for this month have been done with April’21 (MoM) and 2 year back with May’19.

Commenting on how May’21 performed, FADA President, Mr. Vinkesh Gulati said, “The 2^nd wave of covid has left the entire country devastated as there may not be a single household which did not get affected. Apart from urban markets, this time, even rural areas were badly hit. May saw continued lockdown in most of the states.

Not surprisingly, Auto Retail for the month witnessed bloodbath as sales fell by -55% on MoM basis. Similarly, all categories of vehicles fell by a huge degree with 2W falling by -53%, 3W by -76%, PV by     -59%, Tractors by -57% and CV by -66% respectively.

Auto Retail fraternity is in dire need of support. While a handful of OEMs (Tata Motors – CV, Renault, Bharat Benz and HMSI) have announced financial help to their channel partners, others are yet to do so. Hence, FADA humbly requests all those OEMs which have still not announced any financial assistance to kindly do it urgently.

FADA also appeals to the Hon’ble Prime Minister that instead of restructuring, banks should allow a moratorium of 90 days to all categories of dealers without keeping a turnover limit. This is required as Auto Retail Trade works on the principle where dealers get funded from Financial Institutes in terms of inventory funding for a period of 30-45 days (depending from bank to bank) to purchase vehicles from Auto OEMs.

Since the current lockdown has already lasted well over 30-45 days and is still continuing in South India, revenue for most of the Dealers are negligible as there was minimal sales. Due to this, dealers will not be able to repay their loan tranche payment which is getting due. This will ultimately lead towards default. Since there are no guidelines, extension of tranche is considered as restructuring of loan. This will ultimately have a negative impact on Dealers credit score as their CIBIL rating will get impacted.

Near Term Outlook

The 1^st 9 days of June has seen better than expected retails due to pent up demand which was there in the system when states started implementing lockdown. If the trend continues, we may see almost similar sales when compared to June’20 last year.

The monsoons arrived in India almost on time. If Met predictions are to be believed, normal and evenly spread rains may bring an early respite for the rural economy thus pushing demand for vehicles faster than expected.

It may be prudent to say that India may not witness a V – shaped recovery unlike last time. FADA hence continues to remain guarded in its optimism on overall industry recovery for the fiscal FY21-22.

• Inventory at the end of May’21
  • Average inventory for Passenger Vehicles ranges from 20-25 days
  • Average inventory for Two – Wheelers ranges from 25-30 days

Chart showing Vehicle Retail Data

All India Vehicle Retail Data for May’21

CATEGORY	MAY’21	MAY’19	% Change w.r.t MAY’19	APR’21	MoM %
2W	4,10,757	14,20,442	-71.08%	8,65,134	-52.52%
3W	5,215	51,428	-89.86%	21,636	-75.90%
PV	85,733	2,36,157	-63.70%	2,08,883	-58.96%
TRAC	16,616	39,417	-57.85%	38,285	-56.60%
CV	17,534	75,122	-76.66%	51,436	-65.91%
LCV	9,411	43,255	-78.24%	28,511	-66.99%
MCV	915	5,075	-81.97%	3,547	-74.20%
HCV	6,233	23,839	-73.85%	16,062	-61.19%
Others	975	2,953	-66.98%	3,316	-70.60%
Total	5,35,855	18,22,566	-70.60%	11,85,374	-54.79%

Source: FADA Research