Tata Motors shares registered a decline of 16.15 per cent in August

Tata Motors on Sunday reported a 48.41 per cent fall in sales to 32,343 vehicles in the domestic and international markets last month. In a regulatory filing, the automobile maker said its total domestic sales stood at 29,140 vehicles in August 2019, marking a year-on-year decline of 49.06 per cent. Tata Motors shares ended 2.10 per cent higher at Rs 116.75 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) last Friday. Total passenger vehicles sales dropped 57.84 per cent to 7,316 units in August, Mumbai-based Tata Motors said.

"Under the challenging market situation, we continued to focus on improving retail sales. Our retail sales were 42 per cent more than offtake and as a result the network stock came down by over 3,000 vehicles. This prepares dealers well for the festival season," said Mayank Pareek, president-passenger vehicles business unit at Tata Motors.

"Marking the onset of the festive season, we will drive positive sentiments with special offers and several special editions... We are hopeful that the recently announced financial package by Finance Minister will help in improving the liquidity of market and to reduce the ownership cost. This will certainly help the industry to revive and drive the growth," he added.

In August, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a slew of measures to support the auto sector, dealing with a slump in sales and lakhs of estimated job cuts. The Finance Minister said that all BS4 vehicles to be purchased by the consumer before April 1, 2020 will be allowed to ply on the country's roads for their complete registration period.

The government also removed a ban on its departments which prevented them from replacing old vehicles with new ones. The steps to prop up the ailing auto sector came within weeks of an industry delegation meeting the Finance Minister.

Tata Motors said it sold a total of 21,824 commercial vehicles in the domestic market last month. That marked a fall of 45.25 per cent compared with the corresponding period a year ago.

In the commercial vehicles segment, sales of medium- and heavy commercial vehicles were the worst hit, declining 58.00 per cent to 5,340 units last month.

"Subdued demand sentiment due to poor freight availability, lower freight rates and general slowdown in economy continued to hamper the commercial vehicle demand... We are looking forward to a positive impact of the recently announced stimulus package by the government," said Girish Wagh, president-commercial vehicles business unit at Tata Motors.

Tata Motors shares registered a decline of 16.15 per cent in August.

The financial markets remained closed on Monday on account of Ganesh Chaturthi. Trading will resume next on Tuesday, September 3.