New Delhi: The second wave of the corona epidemic has badly affected the people of non-metro cities and rural areas and due to this the consumer sentiments of rural areas have also been badly affected. However, despite this, rating agency ICRA has maintained the forecast of two-wheeler sales to grow at the rate of 12-14 per cent for the current financial year 2021-22. According to ICRA, the demand for two-wheelers will be supported in the festive season due to low base, healthy rural cash flow and priority to personal vehicles. According to Icra, due to the second wave, recovery of overall consumption and investment demand may take some time. In such a situation, some support is expected from the rural economy.
Good rabi harvest, timely arrival of monsoon, minimum support price (MSP) for kharif crops and income support schemes being run by the government are expected to help improve demand in villages. This is expected to support the sales of two wheelers in this festive season. The rating agency said that due to the epidemic, it is being preferred to travel somewhere by personal means, which will increase the demand.
According to Rohan Kanwar Gupta, Vice President and Sector Head (Corporate Ratings), Icra, the lockdown imposed in various states this year between April and June was almost equal to the nationwide lockdown in 2020 last year. In April and May this year, there was a big drop in retail sales of two-wheelers during the mini-festive and wedding season due to poor sentiments.
