Truck rentals recover 18-20% on trunk routes: IFTRT

Truck rentals have recovered by 18-20 percent in December, last year from the previous month low of 25-30 percent on trunk routes on the back of resumption of toll collection on national highways last month and improvement in cash flow in the market, IFTRT said today.

"With toll exemption being stopped w.e.f. December 2, 2016 and Rs 1.79/litre diesel price hike along with improvement in cargo offering by 10-15 percent, truck rentals have recovered by 18-20 percent in December 2016 from the previous month low of 25-30 percent on trunk routes," Indian Foundation of Transport Research and Training the apex body tracking truck industry in India said in a statement.

In view of toll exemption, post demonetisation, despite hike in diesel price, truck rentals plummeted by 25-30 percent on trunk routes as businesses virtually came to a standstill, resulting in 40 percent drop in fleet utilisation due to slack consumer spending and dispatches as toll on highways is considered to be 15-20 percent of variable cost of a trucker, it said.