Auto Sales In India: Total passenger vehicle sales in India declined 1.8 per cent in August to 352,921 units, as against 359,228 units same month last year, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) showed on Friday. 

Though the industry did not attribute any reason for the decline in passenger vehicle sales, it is assumed that it was primarily due to excessive rainfall this monsoon season coupled with customers postponing their purchases for the festival season. 

Many automakers have come up with lucrative festive season offers to push demand for car sales. 

But, on the positive side, sales of three-wheelers and two-wheelers were strong in August. Three-wheeler and two-wheeler sales rose 7.7 per cent and 9.3 per cent to 69,962 units and 1,711,662 units, respectively, data from SIAM showed. 

“Looking ahead, as the country enters the festive season, demand for Vehicles is expected to grow, which will also be duly augmented by the recent announcements of PM E-DRIVE and PM-eBus Sewa Schemes of Government of India,” said Rajesh Menon, Director General, SIAM.

On Wednesday, the Union Cabinet approved the PM E-Drive scheme for the promotion of electric mobility in the country. The scheme has an outlay of Rs 10,900 crore over a period of two years.

Subsidies or demand incentives worth Rs 3,679 crore would be provided to incentivise e-2Ws, e-3Ws, e-ambulances, e-trucks and other emerging EVs. The scheme will support 24.79 lakh e-2Ws, 3.16 lakh e-3Ws, and 14,028 e-buses. 

The Ministry of Heavy Industries is also introducing e-vouchers for EV buyers to avail of demand incentives under the scheme.

On the same day, the Union Cabinet also approved a scheme for the procurement and operation of e-buses by Public Transport Authorities (PTAs) with an outlay of Rs 3,435.33 crore.

The scheme called “PM-eBus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM)” will support the deployment of more than 38,000 electric buses (e-Buses) from 2024-25 to 2028-29. 

At present, the majority of buses operated by Public Transport Authorities (PTAs) run on diesel/CNG, causing adverse environmental impacts.