Heading towards its worst performance in a decade, car sales declined 12.5 per cent to 1,73,420 units in January, its third consecutive slide and the fifth in six months, as carmakers now pinned all their hopes on fresh sops in the upcoming budget.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers(SIAM), apex body of the Indian automakers that released the manufacturing data for the month of January on Monday, said that industry would miss all growth targets in the current fiscal year.
“The low sentiment couple with decelerating economy is likely to push Indian auto industry to its lowest growth since FY'2002-03, when car sales dipped 2.1 per cent,” said Vishnu Mathur, director general, SIAM portraying a gloomy outlook for the industry.
SIAM had earlier issued a forecast of 0-1 per cent growth of cars in FY'13, which would be rectified after the upcoming budget by the end of this month.
Experts say, slowing down auto demand is also impacting sales of flat steel in India, which is primarily consumed. -Sourced
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