Retail sales of passenger vehicles grew last month but the sales of two-wheeler and commercial vehicles remained low compared to the pre-COVID month of May 2019, according to automobile dealers’ body FADA.

On Monday, FADA said that overall auto retails stood at 16,46,773 units in May, down from 18,22,900 units in May 2019.

“May 2022 retails when compared to May 2019 reveal that sales are still not on growth trajectory as overall retails were down by 10 per cent. While PV and tractors continued its positive run… two-wheeler, three-wheeler and CV sales are yet to show any signs of healthy run-rate,” Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) President Vinkesh Gulati said in a statement.

While Year-on-Year (Y-o-Y) comparison with May 2021 shows exceptionally healthy growth rate across all categories, it is important to note that both May 2021 and May 2020 were affected by nationwide lockdown due to the COVID pandemic, he stated.

According to him, a better comparison will be with May 2019 which was a normal pre-COVID month.

Last month, the Passenger Vehicle (PV) retail sales stood at 2,63,152 units. This was 11 per cent higher compared to 2,36,215 units sold in May 2019.

The retails in COVID-hit May 2021 and May 2020 stood at 86,479 units and 31,951 units, respectively.

“The PV segment which has already surpassed May 2019 numbers is witnessing huge demand. Dealers are not able to fulfil the same due to supply side issues,” he said, adding that this has led to an increase in waiting period ranging from three months to two years.

“Healthy booking and single digit cancellation shows that demand may stay put even when normal supply resumes in months to come,” Gulati noted.

Last month, two-wheeler sales stood at 12,22,994 units. It was at 4,10,871 units in May last year.

In May 2019, the two-wheeler retails stood at 14,20,563 units.

“The two wheeler segment has seen slight improvement in overall sales when compared with April this year,” Gulati said.

While the electric two-wheeler sales were growing rapidly, the fire incidents across almost all brands, has created a fear in the mind of the customer, he stated.
“This coupled with supply chain issues, has decreased two-wheeler EV sales drastically from last month,” Gulati said.

The commercial vehicle sales stood at 66,632 units last month, up from 17,607 units in May last year. It, however, remained low as compared to 75,238 units in May 2019.

Similarly, three-wheeler sales remained muted last month at 41,508 compared with 51,446 units in May 2019. In May last year, the retail sales stood at 5,215 units.

However, tractor sales were up last month at 52,487 units from 39,438 units in May 2019.

On the sales outlook, Gulati said while the Russia Ukraine war continues to create demand supply mismatch thus delaying the availability of PVs, RBI has warned of more inflation as the increase in wholesale prices will get passed on to the end consumers. “This will result in a lower disposable income which will ultimately hamper auto sales.”

Hence, FADA continues to remain cautious for any further recovery in auto sales in the near term, he noted.

Corporate giants Adani Group and GMR group have acquired the Gujarat and Telangana franchises respectively in the ‘Ultimate Kho Kho’ league, which is set to start this year with an aim to promote indigenous sport.

The franchise based kho kho league is promoted by Dabur Group chairman Amit Burman in collaboration with Kho Kho Federation of India (KKFI).

“Our experience with the Kabaddi and Boxing League gives us confidence that the Ultimate Kho Kho League will do wonders for this much-loved traditional sport,’ Pranav Adani, Director-Adani Enterprises was quoted as saying in a press release.

“Our decision to partner with this league is an extension of our aim to build a world-class ecosystem that nurtures sporting talent, accelerates the sports economy and plays the role of an enabler in India’s journey to become a leading sporting nation.”

GMR Sports has picked up the Telangana team, to tap on the popularity of kho kho in South India and promote it further.

“Since its inception, over 15 years ago, the company has done pioneering work in growing popular sports such as cricket and other indigenous sports like Kabaddi and Wrestling across India and overseas,” said Kiran Kumar Grandhi, Corporate Chairman, GMR Group.

Ultimate Kho Kho will broadcast live on Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) and its dedicated OTT platform SonyLIV.

National grid operator POSOCO signed a memorandum of understanding with India Meteorological Department (IMD) today where both the parties agreed that weather information provided by IMD will be used by the Power System Operators across the India for better management of Indian Power System and for the purpose of analysis.

The MoU was signed by S. R. Narasimhan, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), POSOCO and Dr. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, Director General (DG), IMD at NRLDC, POSOCO office. The meeting was attended by other senior officials from both sides.

IMD will make available current weather information every hour or at lesser intervals. It will provide weather forecasts of temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction, rainfall up to next 36 hours for the identified stations. It will also provide the snowfall forecast of hilly States and also along the route of important transmission lines passing through hilly terrains. It will provide weather parameters forecast at Renewable Energy plant locations.

The last MoU between POSOCO and IMD was signed on 18 May 2015.

Power System Operation Corporation is a wholly owned Government of India Schedule A enterprise under the Union Ministry of Power. It is responsible to ensure the integrated operation of the National Electricity Grid in a secure manner. It consists of five Regional Load Despatch Centres (RLDCs) and the National Load Despatch Centre (NLDC) under The Electricity Act, 2003.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was leading by 54,121 votes over his nearest rival from Congress Nirmala Gahtori in Champawat bypoll, according to latest trends available on Friday.

At the end of the 13th round of counting, Dhami had polled 57,268 votes and Gahtori 3,147.

Dhami’s comfortable margin shows he is headed for a big win.

By-election to the assembly seat was held on May 31 with over 64 %  of the electorate casting their votes.

A woman has alleged that she was sexually harassed by a man at a station on Delhi Metro’s yellow line, officials said on Friday.

The woman also alleged that the policeman standing on the platform did not take any action after she approached him for help.

The woman took to Twitter to narrate her ordeal following which the Delhi Police asked her to provide her contact details so that they can reach her.

The DMRC also issued a statement on Friday, saying it takes the issue of safety of its women commuters “very seriously” and that all possible cooperation is being extended to the law and order agencies so that necessary action can be taken.

In a series of tweets, the woman claimed that on Thursday afternoon when she got off at the Jor Bagh metro station, a man approached her on the pretext of confirming an address.

“While travelling on the yellow line today, I faced sexual harassment at the Jor Bagh Station. The man had asked for my help w an address during the metro ride.

“I helped him, then got off at my station and sat on the platform to book a cab. The man approached me again at the station under the garb of confirming the address. Believing dat he needed help..”

The man flashed his genitals while trying to to show me a file containing the address, the woman alleged in a tweet.

The woman also alleged that the policeman standing on the platform did not help her.

“I approached a policeman standing on the platform, but he flatly refused to help me and asked me to go upstairs to talk about it.

“I was still scared but I somehow managed to go upstairs and found other policemen. I asked dem to take me to the CCTV room so dat I could recognise him,” she said in another tweet.

The entire incident was captured on camera but then we saw him get into a different metro and leave.

The woman alleged that when she asked the authorities to do something, they instead blamed her for creating a scene.

“I asked them to do something about it but instead they started blaming me and said dat I shouldve created a scene & tht theres nothing they can do now since he managed to leave,” the woman said in her tweets.

The woman said she is scared to step out of her house and “the incident has completely shaken up my belief that metros are safe.”

She said it’s important that this reaches the right authorities, including the DMRC and the Delhi Police so that they know “how bad their safety measures are”.

Replying to her tweets, the DMRC asked the woman to share the exact time of the incident.

“Please provide exact time of the incident. In such cases, commuters are requested to immediately report the matter to the nearest metro staff or contact customer care centre at the station. They can also call, DMRC helpline no. 155370 or CISF helpline no. 155655 so that immediate help can be provided,” the DMRC said in its tweet.

In its statement, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation said, “Delhi Metro takes the issue of the safety of our women commuters very seriously. All possible cooperation is being extended to the law and order agencies so that necessary action can be taken”.

In February 2020, a woman had alleged that she was harassed by a man inside a Delhi Metro train, following which a case was registered.

The single day rise in new coronavirus infections were recorded above 4000 after 84 days, taking India’s total tally of COVID-19 cases to 4,31,68,585, while the active cases rose to 21,177, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Friday at 8 am .
A total of 4,041 new cases were recorded in a span of 24 hours while the death toll climbed to 5,24,651 with 10 fresh fatalities.
The active cases comprise 0.05 % of the total infections, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was 98.74 % , the health ministry said.

An increase of 1,668 cases has been recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a span of 24 hours.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 2020, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5 and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and surpassed the one-crore mark on December 19.

The country crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4 and three crore on June 23 last year.

Following the targeted killings of two employees from the minority community, over a hundred Hindu families have fled Kashmir, first time this has happened after the early 1990s exodus of Kashmiri Pandits.

In the last three days, militants first killed a government school teacher Rajni Bala, 36, outside a government school in Kulgam. And later a bank employee from Rajasthan was shot dead in the same district.

Last month, seven civilians were killed in the Valley, a majority of them Muslims.
But it is the killings of members of a minority community that has created a deep worry for the security forces. There is now widespread scare among the minority communities in Kashmir.

More than hundred Hindu families have fled the Valley in the wake of targeted killings by militants. Avtar Krishan Bhat, President of a Hindu Kashmiri Pandit colony in Baramulla told media that around half of the 300 families living in the area had fled since the killings.

There are several thousand employees from the minority communities in Kashmir who now fear for their and are urging the government to post them out of the Valley.