Two-Wheeler Sales Clock Double Digit Growth In May

Riding high on the demand for scooters, sales of two-wheelers in Indian market grew by 11.89 per cent in May 2017 at 1,694,325 units, when compared to 1,514,334 units sold in May 2016. Scooter sales, in the overall two-wheeler segment, grew by 24.02 per cent at 563,326 units last month as against 454,213 units in the same month last year.

Scooter sales have primarily come from Japanese two wheeler maker Honda whose sales grew by a whopping 24 per cent at 334,165 units in May 2017 over 268,429 units in May 2016.

Good news also came from the motorcycle segment which saw a revival in sales post demonetisation. Domestic motorcycle sales grew by 7.72 per cent at 1,060,746 units as against 984,715 units in the same month last year.

Honda again saw a strong double digit growth of 20 per cent in motorcycle sales but it was market leader Hero MotoCorp which led the growth. Hero, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker, reported 8.7 per cent increase in sales at 6, 33,884 units in May.

Sales of Chennai based TVS Motor Company also grew by 16.3 per cent to 240,527 units from 206,886 units during May last year. Moped sales, which is solely driven by TVS, declined by 6.83 per cent at 70,253 units. Apart from Pune based Bajaj Auto, almost all the two-wheeler manufactures saw growth in domestic sales last month.

With normal monsoon around the corner, the industry is expecting a boost in demand for two-wheelers.

“The motorcycle segment growth (including the entry sub-segment) would revive in FY2018, although the extent and pace of recovery would remain dependent on how the monsoon pans out,” according to Subrata Ray, Group Vice-President – Corporate ratings, Icra. Analysts have predicted an 8-10 per cent growth in two-wheeler sales in FY2018.