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Informist, Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025

 

NEW DELHI – Scooter and motorcycle makers outperformed most other automobile segments in August as dealerships stocked up on inventories ahead of the festival season even as other segments' performance was affected by the promise of goods and services tax cut by Diwali. Exports continued to outpace domestic despatches for two-wheeler companies, in line with the trend observed in recent years.

 

The combined despatches of two-wheelers by Bajaj Auto Ltd., Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd., Eicher Motors Ltd., Suzuki Motorcycles Pvt. Ltd., and TVS Motor Co. Ltd. grew over 10% on year to 2.07 million units in August.

 

Two-wheeler wholesale sales grew a faster 13% in August on a monthly basis as subsequent months, which are festival heavy, may see higher sales of automobiles in India. This can also be seen in the fact that domestic sales in August grew nearly 7% on year and a robust 17% on month to 1.75 million units.

 

Automakers have been relying on bolstering their performance abroad at a time when domestic sales have moderated. Companies exported 325,418 two-wheelers in August, registering a 33% year-on-year growth. However, exports fell over 3% from July.

 

The contribution of exports to Indian two-wheelers' overall sales are also telling. Last month, exports formed nearly 16% of overall sales by these companies, higher than the 13% in August last year. However, this is lower than the 18% contribution seen in July, indicating more domestic focus ahead of the festival season.

 

India's two-wheeler companies are gaining from higher sales of scooters and premium variants, analysts said. "The domestic two-wheeler wholesale volumes grew in double-digits, led by continued momentum in the scooter segment and recovery in the motorcycle segment," said Arun Agarwal, vice president of fundamental research at Kotak Securities, in a note Tuesday.

 

UNAFFECTED BY GST EXPECTATIONS

Automobile sales in August threw up a mixed picture as customers held back their purchases in anticipation of a tax cut. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Independence Day announcement of a rationalisation in tax rates caused customers to postpone their plans to buy automobiles. GST on entry-level two-wheelers could be reduced to 18% from 28% currently, according to media reports.

 

The two-wheeler segment, however, bucked the trend to register a double-digit growth in wholesale sales last month. "We note that while some customers deferred purchases in anticipation of GST cuts, the impact on retail sales was much lower for tractors and two-wheelers as many buyers appear to be not fully aware of the news around potential GST cuts," Nomura Research said in a note. These two-wheeler firms increased their stocks in anticipation of a strong festival season demand, it said.

 

Two-wheeler registration grew 2% on year in August, compared with a 6?cline in July and a 7% growth last August. "Surprisingly, GST arbitrage didn't dissuade customers from delaying purchases leading to strong retail sales of PV (passenger vehicles) and 2Ws (two-wheelers)," HSBC Global Research said in a note.

 

OUTLIERS

Eicher Motors emerged as the outlier in August. Its Royal Enfield-branded motorcycles' despatches grew nearly 55% on year, driven by product launches. This was followed by TVS Motor which sold a record-high number of automobiles to register a sales growth of 30% on year.

 

In the two-wheeler space, Eicher Motors and TVS Motor are expected to outperform peers on strong product placement and disciplined pricing amid sustained growth in domestic and export sales, Emkay Global Financial Services said in a note Tuesday.

 

These two companies also saw an increase in the retail market share. Eicher Motors' retail market share in Apr-Aug grew to 4.9%, 40 basis points higher than a year ago. TVS Motor's market share in this period increased to 18.4%, much higher than 17.1% in the year-ago period, according to HSBC.

 

They gained at the expense of Hero MotoCorp, which saw its market share moderate to around 30% in Apr-Aug from 31% last year. Bajaj Auto's retail market share fell to 10.8% in Apr-Aug from nearly 12% last year.

 

In the wholesale market, Bajaj Auto fared rather poorly in August as its overall sales grew only 2%. This was despite the 25% growth in exports as domestic sales fell nearly 12% on year. In the rare earth magnet-shortage-struck electric scooter space, Bajaj Auto's market share fell sharply to 11% in August from 19% last year.

 

Following is the domestic wholesale sales data of Indian two-wheeler companies:

 

Company	Aug-25	Jul-25	Aug-24	YoY % change
Bajaj Auto	184,109	139,279	208,621	-11.75
Hero MotoCorp	519,139	412,397	492,263	5.46
Honda Motorcycles	481,021	466,331	491,678	-2.17
Eicher Motors (Royal Enfield)	102,876	76,254	65,623	56.77
Suzuki Motorcycles	91,629	96,029	87,480	4.74
TVS Motor	368,862	308,720	289,073	27.60
Total	1,747,636	1,499,010	1,634,738	6.91

 

Following is the exports sales data of Indian two-wheeler companies:

 

Companies	Aug-25	Jul-25	Aug-24	YoY % change
Bajaj Auto	157,778	156,968	126,557	24.67
Hero MotoCorp	34,588	37,358	20,097	72.11
Eicher Motors (Royal Enfield)	11,126	11,791	8,006	38.97
TVS Motor	1,21,926	1,30,070	89,768	35.82
Total	325,418	336,187	244,428	33.13

 

End

 

Reported by Anand JC

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

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