The Heavy Commercial Vehicle (HCV) segment, mainly trucks, outperformed the industry growth of 20% and witnessed 28% growth to 2.12 lakh units in FY2018, ICRA said in a report.
The performance was driven by healthy demand from end-user industries, particularly automobiles, container traffic and bulk materials, the ratings agency said. “While on-going economic recovery supported higher demand for commercial vehicles, a factor that also played an important role was stricter implementation of overloading norms over the past 12-18 months across many north Indian States, including Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Punjab and parts of Madhya Pradesh,” said Subrata Ray, senior group VP, Corporate Sector ratings, ICRA.
He said the industry had been gradually witnessing a greater preference for higher tonnage trucks over the past decade. The demand has gradually shifted from 16T to 25T and is further shifting towards 31T and 37T trucks, he said.
