Retail sales of cars are back to January 2018 levels in August 2021. Two-wheeler retail sales are 22 per cent lower, nearly four years down the line.
But when it comes to e2W, China is the dominant player and had grabbed over 76 per cent share of total e2W imports in 2025 with brands like Yadea, NIU and Sunra dominating the market.
'Reduce your equity allocation, put that allocation into gold and fixed income.'
If growth reverts to the pre-Covid level, a lot of people may have to temper their rosy optimism, points out Debashis Basu.
After a very weak December quarter and a poor year-to-date fiscal year volumes-when sales plunged to the lowest in nine years, the signs in the first 15 days of January haven't been encouraging either. "Though the severity of the current wave is not as high as the previous one, it has hit the sentiments hard impacting conversion of enquiries into sales," said Vinkesh Gulati, president, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA).
The government did not tell us why our economy had imploded. The prime minister simply stopped speaking on the subject, asserts Aakar Patel.
'The August phenomenon of decline in sales occurs every year.' 'What they have done cleverly is, using the economic slowdown as an excuse, they want a package from the government to compensate the expenditure they will incur while converting BS4 to BS6.' 'That's why they are making a hue and cry.'
'Right now, we are increasing production in anticipation of the demand during the festive season.' 'If the demand doesn't come back, all the production will languish in the factories.'
'We can only hope that the government has finally 'got it' and will stay focused on improving productivity, demand, and governance,' says Debashis Basu.
After a brief lull during the pandemic, there is a strong revival in luxury car sales, bolstered by more launches across price bands, replacement demand, ban on old diesel vehicles in the NCR, and 'revenge buying'.
'What's sad today is that there are so many people who cannot find work, not because the country is devoid of that opportunity, but because we are not doing enough in the country.'
The dangerous thing about the present situation is that the government is complacent enough to not realise that we are in the midst of a protracted economic slowdown, Singh said.
'The Indian State needs to focus on healthcare, education, infrastructure and law and order, and get out of all these regulatory cholesterols.' 'Then, India will fly.'
As a general trend, the shift this year is towards diesel and that is why car companies are coming up with more models and soon the customers will be flooded with a variety of cars to choose from. Any and everything in diesel, LPG and CNG seems to be in demand.
'Returns can be very variable in equity markets.' 'That is why I tell small investors don't put 100 per cent of your money in equities, even if you are young.'
'Businessmen are reluctant to invest because there is a fear that private investors are being targeted by various agencies.'
Indian businesses' weak ability to compete overseas says much about the infirmities imposed by the intensity of government dominance of economic policy and the nature of this dominance, observes Kanika Datta.
'It will take six months to one year to move to normalcy, depending on how the pandemic plays out in India.'
'If credit is not available, people will postpone buying. That's what has happened.'
'Investors should be careful in getting carried away; although a reversal of IPO frenzy this time is taking longer than in the past.'
'In the short term, we may see some disruptions due to Covid, but in the medium-to-long term, we should keep an eye on US inflation and 10-year bond yields.'
'... Whether an incumbent is voted back or a coalition forms a new government except for a temporary disruption for a few weeks.'
'It has a natural inclination to foster as much competition among civilian politicians as possible.'
Investors turn their attention to export-driven sectors.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said that the states were free to announce farm loan waivers if they had the fiscal space and that there would be no shortfall this year in divestment and non-tax revenues.
Honda's Mobilio is a multi-purpose vehicle that, while being functional, oozes style.
'The government has used the current macro situation to its advantage.'
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Investors often forget that the movements in indices such as the Sensex reflects the performance of its constituent stocks; nothing else.
Most expect the Budget to be path-breaking.
'15, 17 years back we were not even in existence in the US. Today nearly 1/3 of prescriptions written comes from India.' 'India is showing that in a very competitive environment -- like the US and Europe -- our industry is doing very well.'
Mohandas Pai took part in an hour-long chat on rediff.com
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