Maruti sales up in January as BS-VI transition almost completed, says RC Bhargava

“We can produce as many cars as the market will take. So, our sales are going up. But where companies have not completed the transition, they have to cut back on BS-IV dispatches to dealers, otherwise in the next two months they may get stuck with a lot of unsold stock and that would be disastrous. So, I think in January, the industry growth has come down by something like 12 percent if you exclude Maruti and that is because people are cutting down on the inventory of BS-IV,” said Bhargava.

Sharing his views on the budget, he said, “There are two aspects to boosting consumption and demand. One is that there should be more money available to people in the country to buy goods. The second is that the price of goods should become more affordable and then the demand for that will go up. The first part does come about from the budget, but the second part has not remained within the jurisdiction of the central government because of GST and the GST Council. So, if the cost of the product is not going to come down... it is not a part of the central government’s responsibility, it is something which the states have to do.”