The daunting grey clouds that have been hovering over automotive industry in India now seem to be fading away. Over the last two years, with the pandemic on the go, the fastest-growing automotive industry has experienced great turmoil. The Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdowns drastically hit the sales statistics of the automotive industry over the past two years.
Gradually, the automotive industry started recovering, taking precautionary steps, one at a time. But with the recovery of the automotive industry catching great speed and new obstacles flipping it back, the question that arises here is,
Will the automotive industry fall back to square one?
Speaking of the obstacles rolling the ball under recession and a new Covid-19 variant, will the new obstacles bring back the grey clouds spotlighting the automotive industry once again?
THE CHALLENGES
Though the demand started to rise in time, the automotive sector was hamstrung by several shortages while the automakers were not able to meet the production demands fairly. However, 2021 saw some positive activity from big industry players that were trying to kickstart a recovery in the sector.
On the flip side, to top it all, the year came along with its own set of challenges, which included huge supply chain issues and semiconductor shortages that successfully outlined the industry scenario like no other. The resulting production havoc further intensified the prevailing automotive industry challenges. During the past 12-15 months, semiconductor shortages have been one of the major problems for automakers.
THE GROWTH STATISTICS
The early effects of the pandemic took great turns in presenting a big dip in the road for the automotive industry in India. But now, the industry seems to be roaring back! With the pandemic hovering in the meanwhile, the automotive industry is seeing a resurgence in demand while the recent industry data now backs up a positive indication for the sector.
Highlighting a few growth statistics in the last two quarters of FY 2022-23, Tata Motors successfully up-leveled its game. The automaker not only continues to lead in the segment but was also able to win strong growth year after year. In line with the 42,825 units it had sold during the same period the previous year, Tata Motors reported whopping sales of around 93,888 units in the first quarter of FY 2022-23.
Furthermore, the leading automakers – Honda and Kia also reported strong growth statistics in car retail year on year during the second quarter of FY 2022-23. Reportedly, Honda was able to retail around 7,834 units as against the 4,767 units it had sold in the previous year. To top the statistics, Kia retailed around 24,024 units in the second quarter of FY 2022-23, which earned a whopping growth of around 60%.
RECOVERY & RELAPSE?
Over time, the industry has started to emerge from this crisis and the recovery levels have started to boom. Big automakers have reported greater sales statistics only until recently. With the latest recession and a new Covid-19 variant making headlines, the automotive industry is yet again facing the need to realign itself to some of the new realities of the new obstacles coming their way.
Keeping the spirits high this time, the automotive industry is supposedly all backed up and moving further. The industry is very unlikely to be hit hard by the recession or the new variant. As it has already equipped itself with the much-needed precautionary measures. To avoid repeating the past, the automotive industry is now backing itself up with the supply chain, availability of semiconductors and chips, among others.
The automotive industry in India is expected to record strong growth statistics in the last quarter of FY 2022-23. That’s post recovering from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The last quarter is expected to be a positive year for electric vehicles, especially for the two-wheelers.
Automakers are now optimistic that the last quarter of the FY23 will drive a great comeback and are backing themselves up in anticipation of the rise in demand statistics.
In essence, India could lead the automotive sector by 2030, seeing the rising demands of the sector and slightly overlooking what the pandemic or the recession has to bring around. With several growth statistics on the go, the Government of India expects the automobile sector to attract huge local and foreign investments by the last quarter of FY 2022-23.