The Indian automobile sector had mix fortunes in the last fiscal. While the export of cars witnessed a growth in the financial year April 2007-February 2008, the domestic car market saw a dip of 5.3 per cent during the period.

THE DOMESTIC car sales in the Indian automobile industry are a bit on the lower side but the ’Made in India’ brand continues to shine abroad. The automobile industry registered a 21 per cent increase in the export of cars in the April 07- February 08 fiscal. A total of 11.20 lakh cars were exported as compared to 9.25 lakh units during the same period of the previous financial year. However, the domestic auto market had a fall of 5.3 per cent in the April 2007-February 2008 period and the sales stood at 87.64 lakh units.

Among the companies, Hyundai and Maruti witnessed a good growth with the overall export numbers increasing by 6.7 per cent in the April-February period. The biggest car exporter- Hyundai, which has made India the manufacturing base for its small cars like i10 and Santro, saw export numbers going up by 19 per cent. In terms of units, Hyundai sold 1.26 lakh cars- up against the figure of 1.06 lakh during the same period 2006-2007.

Maruti’s’ export growth was 50 per cent at 46,212 units against 30,764 units in the 11 months of 2006-07. According to the analysts, the car exports would go up further as both Maruti and Hyundai plan to increase the quantum of small car manufacturing in India to service foreign markets.

However, not all the car makers saw a good sales growth. One of the leading car makers of the country, Tata Motors’, saw a decrease of 23 per cent in its exports. Its numbers fell to 11,215 units against 14,585 units in the previous fiscal.