Pre-Dussehra drive: City sees rise in vehicle sales
Despite city’s traffic woes and pothole-riddled roads, Mumbaiites bought more than 10,700 vehicles in the first eight days of this month till Dussehra on Tuesday, revealed data from the four regional transport offices (RTOs) in Mumbai.
The number of vehicles registered across the city during this period rose by 117% compared to between October 11 and 18 (beginning of Navratri to Dussehra) last year.
RTO officials, agents and experts attribute this to discounts and offers on cars, apart from low-interest rates.
According to RTO data, 3,306 vehicles were registered at the Borivli RTO; followed by 2,704 at Wadala RTO; 2,589 at Tardeo RTO; and 2,138 at Andheri RTO between October 1 and 8.
According to RTO figures from last year (between October 11 and 18), a total of 1,157 vehicles were registered at Borivli RTO; 1,168 at Tardeo; 1,369 at Wadala; and 1,288 at Andheri RTO.
RTO officials and agents said vehicle registrations, before this period, had been low owing to the economic slowdown since the start of 2019.
The current spike can be attributed to the festival season.
“It is the festival season and dealers have offered heavy discounts to clear stock lying in their parking yards. Also, people who were hesitant to buy vehicles earlier, due to the market conditions, might have decided to purchase now,” said an RTO agent.
“If this vehicle registration trend continues for the next three to four months, we will be able to say the market has improved. But the current sudden spike in registration is only because of factors like the festive season, and reduced interest rates,” said AV Shenoy, transport expert.
The number of vehicle registrations across the city had steadily gone down since the start of 2019. Around 4,500 vehicles were registered at Tardeo RTO in September 2019, compared to around 6,500 in September 2018. The RTO revenue collection had been hit owing to a similar trend at the other three offices in Mumbai.
In the past one-and-a-half-decade, Mumbai’s vehicle population has seen a rapid increase. Currently, Mumbai has around 36.30 lakh vehicles, of which around 20 lakh are two-wheelers and 10 lakh are cars.