AITWA advised members not to buy new trucks till April 2021
With the Covid-19 pandemic situation it is evident that the automotive and transportation industry is faced with an uphill task.
New Delhi: All India Transporter's Welfare Association (AITWA) has advised their members to hold the purchase of trucks till April 2021 as there is no stimulus package from the government of India to support the industry due to the lockdown in India to control the pandemic spread.
With the Covid-19 pandemic situation it is evident that the automotive and transportation industry is faced with an uphill task. Industry stakeholders now can only hope and look towards the government to find some policy or package to lend support to sail through tough times.
AITWA estimates that there are over 9 million trucks (90 lakh) operating in India, with most of them not being used in the last two months due to various reasons, which has led to direct losses for them. As these trucks have paid or will pay road taxes, insurance, permit fees for the whole year despite having had fewer months to operate. There is already less demand in industry which leads to loses and further stoppage of trucks due to covid situation for some period increases our losses.
AITWA has said, “We fear once some kind of normalcy prevails, the excess available capacity of vehicles will become too high due to demand contraction – fall in production, export and trade levels. Entry of new vehicles will mean more bloodbath. Thus, our advisory to members of the road transport sector is to consciously decide not to purchase any new trucks for at least full year of 2020-21. This will ensure that we help in utilising of trucks which are already on the roads, mostly owned by single truck owners.”
The apex transporter body believes that for the transport sector to survive, "the fresh supply of trucks needs to be stalled. “Unless we help ourselves, we can’t expect anyone to help us. Our mantra for self-reliance will be #NoTruckforMe.”
The AITWA statement continues that "we are sure that each one of us will agree to this and take necessary steps to ensure we do not get lured by deals from financial institutions or CV manufacturers as there is still a lot of uncertainty on the movement picking up too."
