Mint Quick Edit | January auto sales ease anxiety over India’s K-shaped recovery from the pandemic

Not only is the number impressive, the expansion was broad-based across segments. Passenger vehicle sales grew 7.2% and commercial vehicles grew 15.1%, while tractor and three-wheeler sales clocked similarly high growth rates.

January’s show-stealer is a 21% rise in two-wheeler sales, an acceleration from December, when the GST reset began to take effect after a disappointing November. A bulk of the two-wheeler offtake last month was in rural areas.

It can be counted as good news that two-wheeler unit sales outpaced passenger vehicles, just as it’s a relief that GST rate cuts have helped revive demand for small cars, as other reports indicate.

Signs of a “K-shaped" recovery from the pandemic, with premium vehicles doing far better than modestly priced ones, finally seem to be fading in such well-tracked markets. The hope now is that the fiscal boost imparted by GST relief endures. The Indian economy needs robust sales growth across categories.