Northeast states are showing remarkable 20.86 per cent YoY growth in sale of vehicles in 2023, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) said.
In an interaction with the media on the sidelines of the first annual Northeast chapter meet of FADA in Guwahati, the apex national body of automobile retail industry said that despite the prevailing security turmoil in Manipur, the region overall surpassed national figures in terms of sale of vehicles.
FADA said that the YoY growth in Assam was 30.37 per cent while Arunachal Pradesh recorded growth of 21.75 per cent, Meghalaya 40.45 per cent, Nagaland 22.42 per cent, Mizoram 22.03 per cent, Tripura 13.61 per cent and Manipur 38.61 per cent.
FADA president Manish Raj Singhania said that as compared to April this year, Manipur registered a sudden dip due in July due to the prevailing law and order situation in the Northeast state. “Even though the current figures for Northeast states are extraordinary, it would have been outstanding if the situation would have been different in Manipur,” he said.
The FADA president attributed the increase in sales to government spending, infrastructure development and a “stronger rural economy”.
Speaking on the occasion, the FADA president said: “The region holds immense potential and as a fraternity we want to make a strong and consistent contribution to the government’s development vision for the region. We are working very closely with our dealer members in the region to understand their challenges and work with them to address them on priority by giving them the desired support.”
“Post COVID-19, Northeast India is witnessing huge increase in the sale of vehicles. Government’s investment in infrastructure has contributed hugely in this,” he added.
FADA CEO Saharsh Damanai, along with the Northeast state chairpersons who were present at the meeting, highlighted the importance of implementation of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR) which will “ease the customers and dealers in doing business”. The meeting discussed how barring Assam, all other Northeast states are lagging behind in implementation of CMVR which includes paperless and online registration of new vehicles.
“While some states like Assam are doing commendable work in implementing CMVR, others are still lagging. It should be understood that the rules are framed to make it convenient for customers as well as for dealers,” Damani said.
The meeting had a detailed discussion on the core issues and challenges of the states in the Northeast impacting the dealer business, besides also visioning the future plans and growing opportunities in the region.
With the implementation of the CMVR, there will be no requirement for physical inspection of new vehicles, no need to send a physical file to the local RTO and the entire registration process will be a paperless process, where the documents are scanned and sent to RTO for necessary action. The meeting discussed how implementation of these rules will help the customers and the auto dealers.
The FADA officials also said that they have stated a nationwide campaign called “Buckle up India” to stress upon usage of seat belts as well as helmets. The campaign will urge dealerships to educate each of their customers on the usage of safety equipment and technology. Additionally, dealers will stress the importance of driving safely and provide details on buckling up seat belts in 4 wheelers for both the driver and passengers in the front and rear seats, as well as buckling up helmets in 2 wheelers for both the driver and pillion.
