Indian automobile companies had a complete wash-out in April sales following the nation-wide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, as per the updates filed with the stock exchanges on Saturday.
Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and TVS Motors reported zero sales in the domestic market during the month of April.
"During the month of April 2020, TVS Motor Company had zero sales in the domestic market. Following resumption of operations at Chennai Port, 8,134 units of two-wheelers, and 1,506 three-wheelers were shipped utilising the stocks from March 2020 while ensuring utmost safety," said the company that manufactures two and three-wheeler and is the part of 8.5 billion U.S. dollar TVS Group.
Stating that domestic sales during the month were completely impacted by the pandemic, Veejay Nakra, the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Automotive Division at Mahindra & Mahindra, said "We are working hand in hand with all stakeholders, especially our dealer and supplier partners, to get our ecosystem started, once the lockdown is lifted."
"We are hopeful that our dealerships will open soon and have stocks to cover the first few weeks of sale. In the export market we have sold 733 vehicles during April," said the CEO.
India's ace car-manufacturer Maruti Suzuki, which claims over 50 percent share in the car market of Asia's third largest economy in its statement said that it also had zero sales during April in the domestic market.
Meanwhile, following resumption of port operations, the first export shipment of 632 units was undertaken from the Mundra port, ensuring that all guidelines for safety were followed, the Maruti statement said.
India, which has been under lockdown for almost five weeks, has now divided itself into three zones, of which 130 districts are designated as Red Zone, 284 as Orange Zone and 319 as Green Zones.
Considerable relaxation has been offered in orange and green zone, where the impact of the COVID-19 is seen less or negligible. However, all metro cities including Mumbai and Delhi have been included in red zones or considered hotspots for the COVID-19 with stringent norms for movement of cargo and people.
As per the latest update on Saturday evening, India has 26,535 active cases of the COVID-19 with 1,223 deaths reported so far. ■