[wheelguy]

Originally Posted by ramzsys

It is the Supreme Court of India that gave the order to stop selling BS4 vehicles from April 1, 2020.

The government pleaded for 3 months extension (june 30) and the court refused to budge.

But that's what I am told.

These days I am getting a feeling that Supreme-Court, RBI, and other such institutions are loosing their autonomy to GOI. Kindly don't reply to this over here, thanks.

[SoumenD]

Not sure if this is a directly related but seems like a ripple effect? GM struggling at global level?

A very subtle way of reducing headcount. Not new in the IT industry. When product firms decide to reduce headcount, they ask the vendors to hire a few employees(at same salary) in order to save themselves from bad PR. What happens to the folks thereafter is anybody's guess

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@Mods: Incase this isn't relevant to the thread , please delete the post.

[dksv]

Slightly off-topic:

Another sector, another story. I agree each sector has its own challenges but doesn’t this sound too familiar?

Secondly, the crisis faced by the residential real estate sector is partially own making. Real estate prices dramatically increased since 2000 through the boom years but over the last half a decade or so, there had been hardly any meaningful appreciation in prices.

About 5.5 lakh housing units are stuck or delayed in the top seven cities alone which would be much higher if we consider all cities and the government needs to follow up with tax cuts and incentives for the cement industry which is crucial and also make sure interest rates are passed on by banks to end-borrower.

Realtors must reciprocate by lowering the unrealistically high prices in major pockets. The real estate cartels holding on to the high prices have contributed to the sales slump in a big way.

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[ramzsys]

With respect to realty as well as auto, this continuous 'news bombs' about the slowdown isn't gonna do them any good: analysts will give imaginary but seemingly reasonable points about why flats/cars aren't selling and these might reduce the sales.

[giri1.8]

Anticipated fuel price hike might be the final nail in the coffin. Hope top players understand that demand for Diesels/Full hybrid cars will see a spike once the fuel price starts soaring.

Would be a great time for EV makers to capture our market

[Sebring]

True. But, real estate companies are not reducing prices, neither are car companies. Instead, they're putting full pressure on Government to reduce taxes etc. The recently announced sops wont work, since the slowdown is due to numerous other factors - and they seem to have bandaged the wrong foot.

Originally Posted by ramzsys

With respect to realty as well as auto, this continuous 'news bombs' about the slowdown isn't gonna do them any good: analysts will give imaginary but seemingly reasonable points about why flats/cars aren't selling and these might reduce the sales.

[nickatnite]

I really don't understand the attitude of car manufacturers in India. Why do they give us substandard or dated products at premium pricing? Add to this the unbearable dealership experience and price gouging a.s.s.

Take the the Malaysian car market for example , another Asian country. All forty four car brands operating in Malaysia had a combined sales of 50,583 cars in July 2019. And all these brands offer the latest cars and technology for very reasonable prices. Toyota Malaysia sold 5660 cars in July 2019. Visit their website and see for yourselves the tasteful lineup that includes the all new 2019 Corolla Altis which we are not sure will even go on sale in India.

Why do Indians car customers get treated in such a shabby manner?. A few cars less sold and they threaten to pull out of India! By the way Nissan sold 2003 cars in Malaysia in July 2019. Not earth shattering is it, yet we don't hear or read reports of Nissan quitting Malaysia, do we?. And, real estate ain't cheap in Malaysia as i myself enquired during a visit to Penang this year.

https://paultan.org/2019/08/29/malay...2019-by-brand/

[adimicra]

https://www.financialexpress.com/opi...a-lot/1709305/

So, it seems that no GST rate cut is happening and rightly so.
It does not make sense for Govt has to bail out every sector as and when they face an issue. When the same sector does well and manufacturers make huge money, do they share their wealth with others?

Also, I fail to understand the stubborn-ness of the manufacturers to do anything about the current slowdown other than asking for govt. intervention. I read somewhere that "Auto Industry had healthy pre-tax margins in FY19.--12.8% for Maruti, 23.5% for Bajaj Auto &15.3% for Hero MotoCorp. If the situation is as dire as is being made out, why isnt the industry leading with sharp price cuts ??"
I think this point is absolutely correct. Their is no price correction or feature addition to their cars to increase demand in the market. I am very happy that the govt has decided not to cut GST. The car manufacturers need to figure out a way to resolve their problems.

[theredliner]

If tax is cut, the greedy manufacturers would increase their profit margins within a few months by slowly bringing the prices back to the original levels.

Govt. had cut CBU duties on motorcycles in early 2018. At that time, most manufacturers had passed on the benefits. However, shameless greedy manufacturers like Honda and Yamaha brought the prices of their CBR1000RR and YZF-R1 respectively back to pre-cut levels within a year, increasing their profit margins by 2-3 lac (Suzuki has more or less retained the post-duty cut price for the GSXR-1000 ).

I'm sure the same would happen with the SIAM cartel members too if GST is cut. I'd rather the govt. cut income tax and pass the benefit directly to the over burdened income tax payers instead.

[neil.jericho]

Here is an interesting article that puts forth the case that the Indian automobile sector has no just grounds on seeking reduction in taxes.

The biggest concern of the sector is loss of jobs due to the slowdown. If we analyse available information, it becomes clear that employee cost as a proportion of revenue or entire operating expenditure is quite insignificant.

The auto industry has accumulated huge profits over the years and PBT of top nine listed entities was more than Rs 34,000 crore on a standalone basis. India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki clocked more than Rs 10,000 crore PBT in the previous year itself. If profits of corporates are private, then a cyclical reduction in profitability should not be borne by the public exchequer by reducing tax rates.

Expenditure on research and development (R&D) forms 1.5-5 percent of revenue for Indian automobile makers. This is much below the industry average in Europe or the US. If Indian products are not up to the mark, then they are bound to fail in the export market. No industry representative wants to talk about the fact that passenger vehicle exports declined by 9.64 percent in the previous financial year.

If GST rate cut demand of any particular sector is accepted, then similar demands from other sectors are bound to come in.

Overall, I do find it quite amusing that people heading such huge automobile companies pretend to not understand the basics of demand and supply.

Link - https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/au...s-4443781.html

[volkman10]

Slowdown continues...

Ashok Leyland announces 5 more no-production days at Ennore

In a notice to the employees on Thursday, the company declared September 28, October 1, 8 and 9 as non-working days whereas September 31 was declared the sixth non-working day.

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[jaaz]

September 31 , or is it October 31?

[avishar]

Some cheer

Retail Auto Sales Jump To 10-Month High In September On Festive Season Discounts

Retail auto sales, measured by the number of new vehicles registered across India, jumped to the highest in 10 months in September as heavy discounts ahead of the festive season lured buyers into the showrooms. Vehicle registrations—a measure of sales at dealerships—rose 24.2 percent month-on-month and 23.5 percent on a yearly basis to 19.89 lakh units last month. (Passenger cars sales were 234,470)

Sales of passenger vehicles rose to 28.1 percent sequentially, and 22.4 percent year-on-year. The monthly sales are the highest since January 2019.

https://www.bloombergquint.com/busin...sO6BQaxRPayCKQ
Copyright © BloombergQuint

[RM Motorsports]

The Goa government has drastically reduced road tax by fifty per cent on purchases of new vehicles for a period of three months. The move follows multiple quarters of poor sales and is expected to help the struggling auto industry.

“We were witnessing a de-growth of 25% in the sales of vehicles— both cars and two wheelers. We had made a representation to the government to reduce the road tax by 50% up to the end of the financial year,” Manoj Caculo, the president of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry said.

https://www.evoindia.com/news/car-ne...by-half-in-goa

[volkman10]

Muted sales reported in September too.

1.M&M PV Sales Fall 33%

2. Maruti Suzuki reports a total drop to 24.4%

3. Toyota shows drops 18%

4. Ashok Leyland falls at 55%

5. Eicher-Volvo drops at 43%


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