The data also showed that domestic passenger vehicle production was down 16.52 per cent last month. Production of passenger cars stood at 2,05,194 units in July, down 20.08 per cent compared with the year-ago period.

The data from SIAM comes at a time the auto sector is struggling against low consumer demand and lakhs of estimated job cuts.

“More than 3 lakh temporary and casual workers in the automobile sectors are estimated to have lost their jobs… Jobs of about 10 lakh workers are at risk,” SIAM Director General Vishnu Mathur told NDTV.

A revival package has been sought from the government, he said. "We want the government to reduce GST on the auto sector from the base rate of 28 per cent to 18 per cent for a short period,” added Mr Mathur.

Automobile stocks slumped on Tuesday after the release of the monthly sales report by SIAM, with the Nifty Auto index diving 3.95 per cent during the session.

A total of 61,104 passenger vehicles were exported last month, marking a decline of 4.43 per cent compared with the year-ago period. Commercial vehicle exports dropped 32.87 per cent to 5,794 units.

Total commercial vehicle sales in the domestic market fell 25.71 per cent, while production declined 26.44 per cent.

Total sales of medium and heavy commercial vehicles - which includes passenger as well as goods carriers - slumped 37.48 per cent while production fell 37.77 per cent, according to SIAM data. In the light commercial vehicle segment, sales fell 18.79 per cent with a 19.72 per cent decline in production.

In the first six months of the current financial year, the auto industry produced 97,24,373 vehicles - including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, three wheelers, two wheelers and quadricycles, marking a fall of 10.65 per cent compared with the corresponding period a year ago.