Apr can't match March sales, but see a pick-up: Maruti

India's largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki today reported 5 percent decline in its total sales in March. However, the sales were a little higher than the streets expectations.  Mayank Pareek, Managing Executive Officer (Marketing & Sales) at Maruti told CNBC-TV18 that month-on-month the company’s sales have seen signs of improvement and it has gained 3.5 percent market share in March. "Maruti’s total market share will be around 43 percent", he added.

He feels that April will definitely be less than March. However, the attempts are to make it better than last April. "April is never as good as March. The corporate buys are very high and government purchases are very high being the last month of the fiscal year. This makes it one of the best months," he said. He adds that the car market may have seen the bottom. "There is a huge cost for recovering that market but definitely some sign of hope is there." Below is the verbatim transcript of his interview to CNBC-TV18 Q: Was March a slightly better month than January and February? A: Yes certainly. Compared to last year, there was a decline, but last year March was the highest ever; an abnormally high number. However, otherwise if one sees month-on-month or quarter-on-quarter, there is certainly sign of improvement. Infact our sales were highest in March this year than any other months. The best part is the retail off-take was much better, so that is the good part. Q: Which segments or models pulled in the best for you in the current month? A: Alto, Swift Dzire, WagonR. Q: Did you gain any market share because it appears that some of your peers like Hyundai did not do very well? A: We are just 3-3.5 percent up (market share) in March. Q: To what kind of level? A: I think we will be around 43 percent or so. Q: What is the inventory situation as we look into April? Do you expect April to be as good as March? A: No April is never as good as March because in March there are many things which happen that makes it one of the best months. Namely the corporate buys are very high and government purchases are very high being the last month of the fiscal year. April will definitely be less than March, but we are trying it should be better than last April. Q: What is happening on the SUV side? A: This year it saw dramatic changes in SUV. SUV which used to be around 14 percent of the total market, this year increased to almost 21 percent. It is a very sharp increase in terms of SUV. While, the passenger car segment has declined by around 6 percent, SUV has grown by around 51 percent. So, there is a huge growth for SUV, it is around 20-22 percent. Q: So what was the absolute number for Ertiga in the current month? A: Ertiga in the current month was around 6500. Q: Do you have a clear sense of who you wrested most market share from in the current quarter? A: Obviously people who have lost the maximum we gained from them. In this year most of the manufacturers except Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota have shown de-growth. So, we have gained from everyone of them, the players other than these actually. Q: So are you getting a sense that the car market might be stabilising as we go into the next fiscal or is it too early to say on the evidence of just one month? A: Perhaps we have seen the bottom, I think so. Data may not show but my understanding of the ground reality tells me that some thing is better. Of course, there is a huge cost for recovering that market but definitely some sign of hope is there. Even this month we have sold around 115,000 cars, which is a very encouraging sign actually.