Telco sales falls 15 in FY 99

TELCO8217;s sagging sales did not come as a surprise to analysts as the company has plunged into red in the last year and since then there has been no change in company8217;s fortunes. The company even failed to keep its inventory level in control which led its own executive chairman, Ratan Tata castigating his officials.

Domestic commercial vehicle sales of the loss-making company fell to 119,141 units in April 1998-March 1999from 139,908 units in the year-ago period. quot;Poor demand for heavy and medium commercial vehicles, where the fall is as high as 14 per cent, is seen as the main cause for the decline in sales,quot; say analysts.

Sales of heavy and medium commercial vehicles in 1998/99 fell to 51,581 compared with 60,196 in the previous year, they said. TELCO sold 34,103 light commercial vehicles in 1998/99 against 35,060 in the previous year.

Sales of utility vehicles, including the Sumo and Safari, fell to 30,228 units against the previous year8217;s 42,626. Car sales, including the Tata Estate and Tata Sierra models, fell to 1,059 units from 2,026.

TELCO sold 2,170 units of its small car, Indica, during February and March 1999 and hopes to deliver 10,000 Indicas by the end of May this year. But due to some technical problems 8211; which has become a record of sorts for all Telco debut vehicles 8211; it has failed to give delivery of its cars in time.

On the other hand, South Korean car maker Hyundai Motor Co said on Friday atChennai that it sold 17,647 cars in 1998/99 April-March, its first year of operations in the country.

quot;The company closed its financial year 1998-99 by notching up total sales of 17,647 units of the Santro 1.0 litre hatchback model in the space of just over five months, against a total production of 18,156 units,quot; the firm said in a statement.

The firm, which was the first in 15 years to enter India8217;s small car market, launched the Santro model last October. Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the wholly owned subsidiary of the South Korean automaker said however, sales fell short of the 20,000-unit target it had set by end of March 1999.

The firm said sales jumped by more than 98 per cent in March compared with February. quot;Hyundai Motor India has sold 4,290 units in the month of March 1999,quot; the statement said.

Hyundai8217;s Santro is competing head-on with Maruti Udyog Ltd, India8217;s largest car maker which is a joint-venture between the Indian government and Japan8217;s Suzuki Motor Corp. Other newcomers to thesmall car sector include the 800 cc hatchback Matiz from Daewoo Motors India Ltd and the 1.6 litre hatchback, Indica, made by TELCO.