New Delhi, Feb 10 (KNN) Passenger Vehicle (PV) retail sales in January witnessed a year-on-year decline of 4.46 per cent to 2,81,666 units, as semiconductor shortage impacted the segment, said Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

''Non-availability of vehicles due to scarcity of semiconductors, a fading pent-up demand and recent price hikes coupled with no festivities and auspicious days landed January registrations in negative zone,'' FADA said on Tuesday.

According to Automobile dealers’ body FADA, which collected vehicle registration data from 1,273 out of the 1,480 regional transport offices (RTOs), PV sales stood at 2,94,817 units in January 2020.

It further said that two-wheeler sales declined 8.78 per cent to 11,63,322 units last month, as compared to 12,75,308 units in January 2020 while commercial vehicle sales also slipped 24.99 per cent to 55,835 units, as against 74,439 units a year ago.

Similarly, three-wheeler sales fell 51.31 per cent to 31,059 units last month, from 63,785 units in the year-ago period.

Tractor sales, however, grew by 11.14 per cent to 60,754 units last month, against 54,662 units in the same month the previous year.

Total sales across categories declined 9.66 per cent to 15,92,636 units last month compared to 17,63,011 units in the year-ago period.

Commenting on the sales data, FADA President Vinkesh Gulati said after witnessing a one-off growth in December, January registrations fell once again by 10 per cent year-on-year.

“Auto industry clearly misjudged the demand which returned post lockdown. Industry’s underestimation of post covid rebound along with chipmakers prioritising higher-volume and more lucrative consumer electronics market has created a vacuum for semiconductors,” he noted.

This has resulted in a shortage in supply for all categories of vehicles, especially passenger vehicles, even though enquiry levels and bookings remained high, Gulati said.

''New launches and SUV’s continued to see high traction and helped in restricting the overall PV registrations fall by a bigger margin. The recent price hike undertaken by Auto OEMs also added to the woes as two wheeler have become more expensive for lower and middle income class. Commercial Vehicle registrations were also hit due to vehicle financing still not back to normal and high BS-6 cost,” he said.