While passenger vehicle sales in FY17 met with industry’s projection of 3-million units (9.7 per cent growth Y-o-Y), that of motorcycles slipped once again at 4-5 per cent against the projected 8-10 per cent. Motorcycle sales have been weak consecutively for the last three fiscal years. However, scooters have done well with a double digit growth of around 12-15 per cent.

In FY17, the largest motorcycle manufacturer Hero MotoCorp posted a marginal 0.48 per cent growth on overall sales at 66,63,903 units. Almost 85 per cent of the company’s volumes come from motorcycles. Hero’s volumes has been under pressure since demonetisation as 60 per cent of its volumes come from the semi urban and rural markets.

In March the volumes increased by 0.56 per cent y-o-y to 6,09,951 units. Bajaj Auto also reported only a 5 per cent growth in motorcycle volumes to 20,01,391 units during FY17.