For the first time in many years, buyers are having to wait up to three weeks to get delivery of their trucks, with the northern region being the worst affected.
A booming economy, low financing costs, improved highways and new replacement rules for old trucks are the main reasons for the sharp rise in demand for commercial vehicles.
"This is the first time in the last three years that we are being made to wait. The demand is fuelled by the various infrastructure projects undertaken by the states and the Centre, a booming construction business, good rainfall and, more important, the low cost of finance available," said Shyam Mani, general manager (commercial vehicles), Tata Motors.
The commercial vehicles segment grew 32 per cent during April-September 2003, from the same period last year, with the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment recording a 38 per cent surge in sales.
"Even as the commercial vehicles market grew 32 per cent in the first six months, ICICI Bank's disbursements went up over 100 per cent to Rs 1,150 crore (Rs 11.5 billion) during this period," ICICI Bank Senior General Manager V Vaidyanathan said.
Though they are satisfied with the sudden spurt in sales, truck makers are worried about not being able to service demand adequately.
"We will continue to ramp up production in the remaining five months of the current financial year so as to address the growing demand," said Arun Pandey, executive director (marketing), Ashok Leyland.
"While there is a perceptible increase in demand and, consequently, credit offtake, there has been a slowdown in the supply of vehicles. Several regions are hit by the shortage of vehicles. We want to finance more," said HDFC Bank's country head, transaction banking group and retail operations, H Srikrishnan.
HDFC Bank is the second largest financier in the commercial vehicles market. It currently disburses over Rs 125 crore (Rs 1.25 billion) a month, against Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million) three months ago.
ICICI Bank is the largest financier in the country with disbursements of over Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) a month. The interest rate for fleet operators is around 9 per cent, with some dealers offering rates as low as 8 per cent.
