Mahindra expects car sales to take two years to rebound after COVID shock
Battered by the pandemic in 2020 and an economic slowdown in 2019, passenger vehicle sales in India fell to 2.7 million units in the last fiscal year – their lowest level in six years and well below the peak of 3.4 million units in fiscal year 2019.
Mahindra Chief Executive Officer Anish Shah said sales would rebound by fiscal year 2023 if a majority of the country’s population is inoculated and new COVID-19 cases ease, helping the economy recover.
“Getting back to full normal is going to depend on vaccinations … (else) we will always have the fear of the next wave coming in and disrupting things again,” Shah
The world’s second-most populous country has recorded 28 million cases so far, second only to the United States. Infections have surged in recent weeks, and in May India recorded its highest monthly COVID-19 death toll since the pandemic began.
Yet, only about 3 per cent of India’s 1.3 billion people have been fully vaccinated, the lowest rate among the 10 countries with the most cases.
