Tata Motors, the country’s biggest automobile firm by market value, said today that the auto industry is going through a difficult year as ‘conscious intervention’ by the Government has slowed down the demand for vehicles. “The state of the market is a tough one for the industry, including Tata Motors. When the SIAM data (for September) is officially released, you’ll notice that the growth is down to single digits,” Tata Motors president (passenger vehicles) Rajiv Dube told reporters here.

He said that it has been a difficult year for almost all players, more so with the Government’s moves to curb demand. “There has been a conscious intervention by the Government to slow down demand, especially in the auto and real estate segment,” he said. The Government has taken measures to cool down rapidly growing sectors to prevent overheating in the economy, which is expanding at the second fastest pace worldwide.

The RBI has tightened monetary policy by increasing interest rates and through other measures to curb excess liquidity in the financial system. This has forced banks to raise interest rates on auto loans, leading to a fall in demand for cars and two-wheelers.

Dube said that whatever growth the auto industry had witnessed this fiscal (2007-08) was driven by new products. “If you take away the numbers coming from new launches, the industry will actually be witnessing a decline,” he added. The company, which today launched a new version of sports utility vehicle Safari with a price range starting at Rs 7.33 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi), is pinning hopes on the vehicle to boost sales.

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