Automobile monthly sales have continued to remainsubdued in May 2021 as well, marred by extension of lockdowns from most statesto break the chain of COVID-19 infections, depending upon the severity of theCOVID wave in the respective states. Despite the extended plant shutdowns across auto companies, supply chains havenot been as badly affected this time around, unlike last year.

Industry experts expectwholesales to bounce back as restrictions ease. Hence, companies withmeaningful exports share would fare better, they claim.

Segment-wise, forMHCVs, fleet operators’ profitability has been impacted sharply due to a ~21per cent decline in freight rates, and this has impacted fleet utilizationlevels as well. E-way bills have dropped by ~40 per cent in May-21 vs 4QFY21levels.

Market analysts maintain that recovery could be sharper as economicactivity normalizes and, given the extremely low base, they expect ~85 per cent/25per cent Y-o-Y volume growth in FY22/23F, driven by an improvement in economic activities, lowinterest rate regime, and an improvement in financing availability. Analystsexpect M&HCVs to outpace other segments in FY2022, while demand for ICV andLCV remains strong and would continue to drive industry growth