Car sales drop for 9th month, temporary workers face the heat

August 12, 2013

Car_sales_drop

New Delhi, Aug 12: With car sales in India falling for a record ninth month in a row in July posting 7.4 per cent decline and that of heavy and medium commercial vehicles dipping for 17th month in succession, industry body SIAM today said auto sector has started retrenching temporary workers.

According to the latest data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic passenger car sales declined to 1,31,163 units in July this year from 1,41,646 units in the same month of 2012.

While total sales of commercial vehicles dropped by 14.93 per cent to 55,301 units from 65,008 units in the year-ago period, heavy and medium commercial vehicles (M&HCV) sales were down 19.88 per cent at 18,611 units.

"It is a very serious situation for the industry. The original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) have started adjusting temporary and casual workforce," SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur told reporters here.

While he did not share the exact number of temporary workers affected by the downsizing, Mathur said: "In the manufacturing sector, not restricted to auto sector alone, companies by and large tend to keep more temporary and casual workers."

According to SIAM estimates, the OEMs employ a total of about two lakh workers, another five lakh by component makers while four lakh are employed at dealer and service centres.

While Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has already asked some of its temporary workers at the diesel engine plant at Manesar to go on indefinite leave, Toyota Kirloskar Motor also confirmed that it is "currently not renewing contracts of the temporary employees", without specifying details.

Mathur further said the demand slump has affected across the segments. "For the total passenger vehicles, including cars, July was the 8th straight month of decline. Similarly, for motorcycles and grand total of all categories, it was the 6th straight month of decline."

Total sales of vehicles across categories registered a decline of 2.08 per cent to 14,15,102 units in July 2013 as against 14,45,112 units in the same month of 2012.

He said in the wake of the continuous decline in automobile sales, SIAM has approached the government seeking stimulus package, including reduction in excise duty, fleet modernisation and put an end to ban on new government vehicle purchase that has been on since May last year.

The overall economic factors, high interest rates, fuel prices and low sentiments continue to hurt demand, although new model launches such as Honda Amaze, Ford EcoSport have been able to bring "some excitement in the market", he added.

In July, market leader MSI posted 10.88 per cent increase in its domestic car sales at 63,040 units, while that of rival Hyundai Motor India were down by 5.67 per cent at 25,939 units. Tata Motors' car sales were down by 59.59 per cent at 8,546 units during the month.

Mahindra & Mahindra's utility vehicle (UV) sales were down 30.10 per cent in the month at 14,503 units.

SIAM said the UV segment, which was doing well in earlier months, has been hurt by the hike in excise duty to 30 per cent. In July, the segment saw a decline of 17.53 per cent at 37,010 units.

"There is a correlation in the drop of UV sales and excise hike. It was growing at high double digits till March, when it grew by 34 per cent, but then in April it came down to a growth of just 3.99 per cent. Since then the segment has been struggling to grow," Mathur said.

According to the SIAM data, domestic motorcycle sales declined by 1.52 per cent to 8,09,312 units in the last month, from 8,21,821 units in the same month previous year.

Market leader Hero MotoCorp (HMC) posted a decline of 3.79 per cent at 4,20,397 units.

Bajaj Auto also saw a decline of 23.61 per cent at 1,53,173 units, while Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) saw its bike sales grow by 38.27 per cent to 1,40,611 units in July this year.

The scooters segment saw a growth of 9.80 per cent to 2,71,438 units during the month, SIAM said.

HMSI's scooter sales grew by 7.69 per cent at 1,35,584 units, while that of HMC jumped by 57.6 per cent at 56,798 units. TVS Motor Co saw its scooter sales decline by 13.94 per cent at 35,010 units.

Total two-wheeler sales in July 2013 declined by 0.06 per cent to 11,31,992 units from 11,32,696 units in the same period of previous year, SIAM said.

According to SIAM, three-wheeler sales in the country declined by 6.14 per cent at 41,570 units.

When asked if automobile sales could pick up in the festive season, Mathur said: "There is hope. We have had a good monsoon this year as we have said earlier. Companies are preparing for the festive season with new launches. We hope that there will be someting positive in the festive season."

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Palghar lynching accused are not Muslims; BJP wrongly giving communal colour: Maharashtra govt

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April 22,2020

Mumbai, Apr 22: Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday said none of the 101 people arrested in connection with the Palghar lynching case is a Muslim, and accused the opposition of giving a communal colour to the incident.

Terming the incident as unfortunate and a blot on humanity, Deshmukh in a Facebook address said this is not the time to play politics, and urged all to engage in collective efforts to defeat the deadly coronavirus.

Without naming any leader or party, Deshmukh, who is an NCP leader, said some people were seeing Mungerilal ke haseen sapne (referring to a fictional character from a TV show who daydreams) of returning to power in the state.

He said in the run up to the incident, a rumour did rounds in Palghar that some people were lifting children during night.

The entire episode is being investigated by a special inspector general and the probe has been handed over to the Crime Investigation Department (CID), he said.

"The police arrested 101 people in connection with the incident within eight hours after it took place. They had run into neighbouring jungles, but were caught by police. There is no Muslim brother among these 101 people, Deshmukh said.

The minister said someone was heard as saying oye bas (please stop) in the video clip of the incident, but it was allegedly distorted as Shoaib.

An attempt was made to give a political colour to the incident. And this is very unfortunate...communal politics is being played, Deshmukh alleged.

He said such politics is being played at a time when the entire state is engaged in a battle against coronavirus.

"It is not the time to play politics, but to fight coronavirus collectively. It is unfortunate some people are seeing 'Mungerilal ke haseen sapne' at this juncture, the minister said.

The incident took place on the night of April 16 when three men - two seers and their driver - were going from Mumbai in a car towards Surat in Gujarat to attend a funeral.

Their vehicle was stopped near a village in Palghar district where the three were dragged out of the car and beaten to death with sticks by a mob on suspicion that they were child-lifters.

The deceased were identified as Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70), Sushilgiri Maharaj (35), and driver Nilesh Telgade (30).

The Maharashtra government earlier ordered a high- level probe into the incident, and two policemen from Palghar were suspended on Monday for alleged dereliction of duty.

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11 CISF personnel from Mumbai Airport test positive for Covid-19

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April 4,2020

Mumbai, Apr 4: As many as six Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel stationed at Mumbai airport in Maharashtra have tested positive for coronavirus, taking the total number of positive cases among the central force to 11. The first case of a CISF jawan being diagnosed with the viral disease was reported on March 28.

After the first case, the armed police force reported four more cases of COVID-19 among the personnel stationed at the airport on Thursday. On the same day, the CISF collected samples of 146 staff and sent them to Kasturba hospital for testing. The results, which arrived on Friday, recorded six more COVID-19 cases among, reported news agency.

The personnel were posted at Kharghar adjoining Mumbai, a senior official told news agency.

As of now, there are 14 COVID-19 cases in Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) area in Mumbai. Kharghar comes under the civic body's jurisdiction.

All the 146 CISF personnel were shifted to a quarantine centre at a facility at Kamothe reported the Times of India.

Maharashtra reported 67 new COVID-19 cases, taking the total tally to 490. A total of 26 deaths have been reported in the state.

In the meantime, the Centre on Friday said there is no shortage of medical supplies across the country to fight COVID-19 outbreak.

"The government of India is making sure that all the essential medical supplies are in place to fight COVID-19. Sixty-two lifeline Udan flights transported over 15.4 tons of essential medical supplies in the last five days," Union Minister for Chemical and Fertilisers DV Sadanada Gowda said in a tweet.

The government is also paying full attention to the manufacturing activities of essential items like pharmaceuticals and hospital devices. For this, over 200 units in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are operational, he added.

"A Central Control Room has also been set up for close monitoring of the distribution of essential medical items and to address logistic related issues," Gowda said.

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Muslim population rose in India because they got 'special rights': Yogi Adityanath

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January 15,2020

Jan 15: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Tuesday that the Muslim population in India increased manifold since the partition because they were given special rights and facilities, according to a report by The Indian Express.

"The Muslim population in India has increased manifold since 1947, it has gone up by seven to eight times. No one has any objection. If they, as citizens of the country, work for development, they are welcome. Their population has increased because they have been given special rights and facilities. All possible steps were taken to ensure their growth," Adityanath said while addressing a rally in Gaya organised by the BJP in support of the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.

He asked the audience, "But what happened in Pakistan?" Claiming that the Hindu population in Pakistan had decreased since 1947, he asked why it was so.

Yogi said that the countrywide anti-CAA protests are a "conspiracy" hatched from afar by those resentful of a united and grand India and these are being aided by a "crooked" opposition. He further charged that those opposing the legislation were committing the "paap" (sin) of working against national interests.

"For taking such a step, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah deserve acclaim. Instead, they are being attacked", Yogi lamented.

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He himself contradicts his statements. He claims the Muslim population rose 8-9 (according to him) times since 1947. If he was educated its simple 73 years have passed the population grows. Still, the Muslim population is only a minority against the majority. He talks about special rights and facilities given yes agreed but not by him it's by the Constitution of India and for all the minorities. So it's not you its Constitution of India. The majority of the people are against the act CAA is against the very fundamental of the Constitution of India which PM & HM are taking away from the people. If you disagree, disrespect, go against it then you are against the country itself in Hindi deshdruhi.