Chip shortage will hamper Maruti’s delivery plan in near future

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Of the company’s total models, the Ertiga continues to lead the pack with nearly 94,000 bookings, reports PTI. Other models of the company that have made customers wait for a very long time are the Grand Vitara and the Brezza. They have an order backlog of 37,000 and 61,500 units respectively. Apart from this, the company has received around 22,000 and 12,000 bookings for the Jimny and Frons respectively.

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The company has been facing this problem since the last quarter and faced the brunt in the October-December quarter. MSI saw a loss of around 46,000 units in the last quarter, with the persistent problem expected to affect the company’s production in the current quarter as well. The semiconductor shortage is expected to persist for a few more quarters.

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Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki India, said, “Semiconductor shortage continues.

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He further said that it is difficult to estimate the exact timeline as to when normalcy will come in its supply to match the production capacity. The production of MSI’s Jimny and Frons will start soon in Gurgaon and Gujarat by the end of March.

The PV segment is expected to grow by 5-7 per cent in the next financial year

Looking at the growth outlook of the personal vehicle industry, Shashank Srivastava said that the PV segment is expected to register a growth of 5-7 per cent in the next financial year over 2022-23. He also said that in the PV industry, sports and utility vehicles will continue to lead with a maximum share of 42.6 per cent. The hatchback will continue to be the runner-up with 35 percent share in the industry.

“So far the passenger vehicle industry has seen sales of 35.5 lakh units in this financial year. It looks like the industry will end the year with 38.8 lakh units, which is the highest number ever,” he added.

He added that last year the PV industry saw sales of 30.7 lakh units. Therefore, this time in this financial year, an increase in sales is expected by about 26 percent.

He expressed confidence in the growing demand for MSI vehicles in the market and said that the company’s estimate for the next year is between 40.5-41 lakh units which is roughly a growth of 5-7 per cent. Hence, MSI is expected to outperform the industry, which could be impacted by lack of demand due to rising vehicle loan rates.

Increase in rate may affect demand

Notably, after the RBI repo rate hike, many banks have started increasing their lending rates, which has discouraged loan borrowing.

“After the increase in the repo rate, many banks have increased the lending rates…the rates are clearly moving up and obviously this has an impact on the aggregate demand,” he said.

Apart from the RBI repo rate hike and inflation, Shashank Srivastava also mentioned positive factors balancing these factors to maintain the market momentum. He said the promising growth of the Indian economy would help counter the impact of negative factors. In addition, government spending on infrastructure has a positive impact on the demand scenario.

Talking about the performance of the automaker, Shashank highlighted its domestic wholesale data. The company’s wholesale sales in February grew by 11 per cent to 1,55,114 units as against 1,40,035 units in the same month last year. He also informed that the auto major has shipped 15.08 lakh units so far in the current fiscal, a growth of 23 per cent from 12.27 lakh units in the April-February period of the previous fiscal.

(With inputs from PTI)