Truck Rentals Rebound Ahead of Festival Season

Mumbai, Aug 7 (PTI) After remaining tepid for two months, truck rentals across key trunk routes witnessed a rebound in July as manufacturers started moving goods to major commercial hubs ahead of the festival season, says a report.

Also, with the Kharif harvest round the corner, commercial tractors and agricultural tractor sales grew 19 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively, month-on-month, the report said.

At the same time, heavy discounting in the passenger vehicle segment spurred an 11 per cent m-o-m growth in car sales in July even as the inventory levels at vehicle dealerships have reached an all-time high, ranging from 67 to 72 days, Shriram Finance said in its monthly mobility report.

The report also stated that the prices of used commercial vehicles rose between 5 per cent - 47 per cent in July although the average selling prices of popular passenger vehicles dropped sharply, while two wheelers' prices remained steady in the previous month.

According to the report, in anticipation of strong festival demand, manufacturers have started moving goods to key commercial hubs, thereby pushing up demand for trucks in July.

The fleet occupancy levels have also started rising with Kolkata-Guwahati-Kolkata route seeing a sharp 3.9 per cent increase in trip rentals.

Used Commercial Vehicles (UCVs) showed a healthy YoY growth across all weight categories with the 2-3.5-ton 4-wheeler UCVs prices increasing by as much as 47 per cent followed by a 36 per cent growth in the 1.5-2-ton category, it said.

"With kharif harvest around the corner and copious water stored in reservoirs due to good monsoon rains, rural activity will gain momentum in the coming months. Manufacturers too are ramping up supplies to commercial hubs in anticipation of higher festive offtake across product categories," said YS Chakravarti, MD and CEO of Shriram Finance Ltd.

Two-wheeler sales in the D2D (Dussehra to Dhanteras) may be in the region of 54 lakh to 55 lakh units, up from nearly 45 lakh last year, Chakravarti stated.

During the previous month, according to the Shriram Finance report, sales of new vehicles witnessed an upward movement as discounts entered the market after a long gap. Car sales witnessed an 11 per cent MoM rise and a 9 per cent YoY rise in July while two-wheeler sales rose 5 per cent on a MoM basis (17 per cent increase YoY), it said.

Commercial vehicle sales also saw an upward swing on a MoM and YoY basis with e-rickshaw with cart registering an 87 per cent increase on a YoY basis and commercial tractors registering a 19 per cent increase on a MoM basis, as per the report.

FASTag toll collections also remained flat as compared to the collection of June 2024, Shriram Finance said.