Maruti Suzuki India expects double-digit retail sales growth during the festive season from Onam to Diwali, supported by strong demand for SUVs and small cars despite a high base during Navratri.
New Delhi, October 21 — Maruti Suzuki India Ltd expects double-digit growth in retail sales during the entire festive season, which runs from the beginning of Onam through Diwali, according to a senior company executive.
Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales at Maruti Suzuki, said the company expects festive-period sales to remain strong even though passenger vehicle registrations during Navratri declined sharply on a year-on-year basis.
Provisional data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) showed passenger vehicle registrations during this year’s Navratri period, from October 11 to October 20, fell 21.9% year-on-year to 1.83 lakh units.
However, Maruti Suzuki said its own deliveries during Navratri were almost at last year’s level.
Banerjee said the company achieved around 98% of last year’s Navratri deliveries during the comparable period.
Performance during the broader festive season has been stronger.
Maruti Suzuki’s deliveries from the beginning of the Onam period to Dussehra increased around 30% year-on-year, while deliveries between Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussehra rose 35%.
The festive season typically includes Onam, Ganesh Chaturthi, Dussehra, Dhanteras and Diwali, along with the Shradh period.
The year-on-year comparison has also been affected by the timing of last year’s GST rate reduction.
Auto demand between Onam and the first day of Navratri last year was relatively weak because many buyers postponed purchases while waiting for a reduction in GST.
Once the new GST rate came into effect on the first day of Navratri, sales surged, creating a high comparison base for the Navratri-to-Diwali period this year.
Maruti said demand has remained strong across vehicle categories.
Sales of small cars grew around 16-17% between Ganesh Chaturthi and Dussehra, while SUV volumes doubled, helped by improved supplies of models such as the Victoris and Brezza.
The company also continues to carry a large order backlog.
Maruti started October with around 2 lakh pending bookings, which increased to approximately 2.7 lakh units after Dussehra.
The automaker said it is working to maximise production and deliveries to meet the strong demand.
Based on current booking trends, Maruti expects the positive momentum to continue through Dhanteras and Diwali and deliver double-digit growth for the full festive period.
