Amit Garg was listed as a speaker at the ET Auto Retail Forum 2023, in a fireside chat on “Industry Trends in Rural Market in Post Pandemic World”. The programme named him as a dealer partner of Shiva MotoCorp.
The recording is on ET Auto’s YouTube channel. In the session, Amit Garg, Dealer Partner at Shiva MotoCorp, spoke with Aniruddha Haldar, Senior Vice President at TVS Motor. Deepanshu Taumar, Senior Assistant Editor at ETAuto, moderated the conversation.
What he said.
Demand down: after the pandemic, two-wheeler sales were down by about 40 to 50%, and most of the fall came from rural customers.
Why: vehicle prices had risen by 30 to 40% across manufacturers, inflation and loan interest rates were higher, and rural incomes were lower than before the pandemic.
What the dealership did: it arranged retail finance through public sector banks, whose rates were lower than those of private banks, and sent exchange mailers to encourage rural customers to trade in their old vehicles. He said this lifted sales by 5 to 10%.
Keeping staff: lower sales meant lower incentives, and trained staff often moved from two-wheeler to four-wheeler dealerships for better pay. The dealership kept a smaller, well-motivated team.
GST: he agreed that a lower GST rate on two-wheelers would help, because a two-wheeler is a basic need while public transport is still catching up.
Watch the fireside chat.
In the news.
ET Auto on YouTube, 29 March 2023: Fireside Chat on ‘Industry Trends in Rural Market in Post Pandemic World’
About Shiva Group
Shiva Group is a family-owned automotive retail group with a legacy since 1928 and in automotive retail since 1972. Headquartered in Delhi NCR, the Group is an authorised sales and service partner for nine brands across two-wheelers, cars and SUVs, and commercial vehicles — Bajaj, Chetak, KTM, Triumph, Mahindra, Land Rover, MG Select, Bajaj Three-Wheelers and Mahindra Commercial — with a network across Delhi NCR and North India.
