Nearly 8 lakh BS-III vehicles, majorly two-wheelers, were sold between 30th and 31st March in India thanks to the huge discount offered
Indian automobile market experienced highest ever retail sales of 8 lakh units in just two days before the new financial year began. Thanks to the huge discount and other cash benefits offered, on 30th and 31st March, the entire auto industry has delivered a number of vehicles, which were supposed to be sold in next couple of months.
A majority of the sold vehicles are attributed to the BS III compliant two-wheelers, which were with discount ranging between Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 22,500. According to SIAM data, automakers had a stock of around 9 lakh BS III vehicles including two-wheelers, passenger cars and commercial vehicles. When Supreme Court imposed ban on BS III compliant vehicles across the country and out of this 9 lakh units, 7.51 lakh units were two-wheelers alone.
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It was speculated that a total loss of the entire Indian auto industry could shot up to Rs. 12,000 crore, but with the huge amount of BS III vehicles sold in just two days, the margin of loss has been reduced significantly. Some believe that around 5 lakh two-wheelers were sold just on 30th March. Despite any prior preparation, the two-wheeler manufacturers announced discount and other cash benefits in an attempt to reduce their stock of BS III compliant products and the footfall in showrooms increased drastically.
A study shows that all the dealers who were having trouble with their inventory before 30th March, went out of stock by the evening of 31st March, 2017. The RTOs across the country too were jammed due to the huge number of vehicle registrations. This was certainly due to the largest discount ever given by the companies in recent past.
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But as the automakers are happy with the sales result in last two days of FY2016-17, environment specialists believe it ruined government’s effort to reduce pollution by introducing BS IV norm. The air quality is unlikely to get better as the plying and emitting pollutants by the recently sold BS III vehicles will increase drastically in a couple of days.