'Automobile sales to rise 10-12 percent in 2012-13'

New Delhi, April 10 (IANS) The Indian automobile industry is expecting a 10-12 percent rise in sales in fiscal 2012-13 from the 17,376,624 units sold in 2011-12 on better macro-economic conditions, an industry body said.

"We expect the overall automobile sales to grow by 10-12 percent in this fiscal. For passenger car sales, conditions are expected to improve and we expect a growth of 10-12 percent," S. Sandilya, president, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) told IANS.

In the current fiscal, passenger car sales will be helped by moderate interest rates and a cooling inflation.

"The biggest problem in 2011-12 was high interest rates and we now expect the rate to come down and this should also help sales pickup," said Vishnu Mathur, director general, SIAM.

Sandilya, however, said there should be parity between petrol and diesel prices of cars.

SIAM is also expecting sales growth of about 11 -13 percent for motorcycles, 5-7 percent for three wheelers and 9-11 percent for buses and trucks.

Data furnished by SIAM showed passenger vehicle sales grew 4.66 percent in 2011-12 at 2,618,072 units from 2,501,542 units sold in the previous fiscal. Sales of passenger car segment clocked a 2.19 percent rise at 2,016,115 units from 1,972,845 units sold in 2010-11.

Exports rose 25.44 percent overall at 2,910,055 units in the period under review from 2,319,956 units shipped out during 2010-12.

Segment-wise, the data revealed a rise of 18.20 percent in sales of key economic activity indicators like buses and trucks at 809,532 units in 2011-12 from 694,905 units sold in 2010-11.

Two-wheeler sales grew 14.16 percent at 13,435,769 units from 11,768,910 units in 2010-11. Motorcycle sales rose 12.01 percent in 10,096,062 units from 9,013,888 units sold in 2010-11.

Scooters also sold well with a growth of 24.55 percent at 2,562,841 units from 2,057,604 units.

The data also showed an overall sales growth in March at 10.11 percent. Passenger car sales in the last month zoomed 19.66 percent.

Commercial vehicle sales too registered a growth of 14.82 percent in the last month over the like period of 2011.

The two-wheeler segment had a healthy sales growth of 17.81 percent last month.