Maruti Suzuki India Ltd (MSIL), the country’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, has hailed GST 2.0 as a “positive tsunami” for the auto industry.
In an interview with ANI, Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer, Marketing & Sales, said dealer partners are working round-the-clock to deliver vehicles to customers.
“Our finance partners are busy sanctioning loans as soon as possible and giving delivery orders so that we can deliver cars to customers. The reason behind this rush is GST 2.0 reforms. This has created positivity everywhere,” he said.
He explained that when the GST Council announced the rate cut in August, many prospective buyers postponed their purchases. “Now, they are coming back to the market, making this festive season very strong for the auto sector,” he said.
“Bookings, which earlier used to be around 10,000, are now at the level of 18,000 per day. In small cars also, we are seeing very good traction in terms of bookings. An interesting part is that beyond 100 cities, the response is even better. The bookings have almost doubled-100 per cent growth,” Banerjee said.
He further said, “We are witnessing 100 per cent sales growth in small cars. In metropolitan cities we are witnessing growth of around 35-40 per cent.”
The GST Council recently reduced tax rates on small cars — those under four metres in length with engine capacity up to 1200 cc (petrol/CNG/LPG) and 1500 cc (diesel) — to 18%, down from the earlier 29–31% (28% GST plus 1–3% compensation cess). The reduction took effect from September 22.
While demand has improved across all segments, small cars — now in the 18% GST slab — are seeing the strongest response compared to vehicles in the 40% tax category.
Tax cuts on larger vehicles have been smaller, with cars over four metres now taxed at 40%, down from 43–50% earlier (28% GST plus 15–22% cess).
Banerjee said that other than GST rate cut benefits, they are providing additional festive offers to buyers, “Soon we are also going to launch an innovative finance product where a new buyer can purchase an entry-level car with easy EMI of Rs 1,999 per month. In India, only 34 people in 1,000 own cars. We want to increase this car penetration. As a market leader, we are coming up with such offers and initiatives which will encourage bike owners to shift to the entry-level car segment.”
(With inputs from ANI)
