New Delhi: Automobile retail sales in March showed a 14% YoY increase, and for the entire financial year 2022-23, sales grew by 21% YoY, according to data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA),.

All categories except for tractors experienced double-digit growth, including two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger vehicles, and commercial vehicles.

In March, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, passenger vehicles, and commercial vehicles saw growth of 12%, 69%, 14%, and 10%, respectively, while tractors only grew by 4%. Although two-wheeler sales increased in March, they were still down 9% compared to pre-Covid levels in FY20.

Manish Raj Singhania, president of FADA, attributed the growth in passenger vehicle sales in March to better supplies, higher prices of on-board diagnostics (OBD) 2A vehicles, and multiple festivals. The electrification of the three-wheeler category reached 52%, driven mainly by the e-rickshaw segment, thanks to the availability of finance, alternative fuels, and state subsidies.

Passenger vehicle retail sales grew 23% YoY, reaching a record high of 3.6 million vehicles, primarily due to numerous new launches and better product availability.

Tractors experienced single-digit growth of 8%, but retail sales reached an all-time high of 827,000 units, beating its previous high of 782,000 units in FY21.

In the two-wheeler segment, Hero Motocorp's market share decreased from 34.35% in 2021-22 to 32.07% in 2022-23, while Honda Motorcycle and TVS Motor saw a marginal increase. Market leader Maruti Suzuki saw a decline in market share from 42.13% last year to 40.86% in 2022-23 among passenger vehicles. Bajaj Auto's market share also decreased to 33% compared to 35.5% in the three-wheeler segment.

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