- It sold 4,53,985 units in December 2018
- The chairman attributed the decline in sales to the increased insurance cost
- He also called for a reduction in GST rate for two-wheelers
Hero MotoCorp has reported a drop of 3.9 per cent in its sales in the month of December 2018. It sold 4,53,985 units of two-wheelers in the concluding month of 2018 which was higher at 4,72,731 units in the same month a year before.
Pawan Munjal, chairman of the company, attributed the decline in sales to the increased two-wheeler insurance cost and the existing liquidity crunch in the market. Both the factors have considerably disrupted the overall growth of the industry during the third quarter of current financial year.
The chairman has also called for a reduction in current GST rate from 28 per cent to 18 per cent for two-wheelers. Stating two-wheelers as the basic mobility for masses, the top official said that the reduction in tax will make purchasing two-wheelers easier for the cost-sensitive buyers. The increased tax majorly affects the mass-market segment of two-wheelers, which act as the lifeline for majority of buyers.
Moreover, the implementation of upcoming safety norms (for ABS) will further hike the two-wheeler prices and the initiation of BS VI emission norms later will add to the increment in the costs.
