Can expect pick-up in new vehicle sales in second half of November, says Shriram Transport

Shriram Transport is expecting the new vehicle sales to pick up in the second half of this month, said Umesh Revankar, managing director of the company.

The festive season sales have been very weak for the auto sector. Credit Suisse reports a 10 percent fall in demand this season. BNP Paribas noted that the moped segment appears to be the worst hit.

However, Revankar said that lower demand is too early to be talked about. He said that sales have been postponed on account of a week-long holiday.

“November month is when the demand comes for used vehicles in the rural market because this is the harvesting time. Therefore, we cannot judge new vehicle sales trend from November sales,” he said.

“In second half of November there could be some pick in new vehicle sales and towards the end of December again the sales would pick up is what I feel,” he further added.

According to him, there is a dip in demand for personal vehicle due to insurance cost.

Talking about business, Revankar said, “We normally finance only commercial vehicle; personal vehicle, we do not finance but passenger vehicle, we do finance.”

We should retain net interest margin at 7.5 percent, he said.