NEW DELHI: In a rare case, dispatches by the the car industry to dealerships have declined in the festive season as buyers are postponing taking deliveries on hopes of price cuts due to an expected reduction in GST rates in an upcoming review.Total car wholesales in Aug are estimated at around 3.3 lakh units against 3.6 lakh units in same month last year. All top companies reported a decline in dealer dispatches, including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors. Companies consciously cut back on dispatches as dealers expressed concern after customers started to refuse taking deliveries on hopes of getting better retail prices after a GST cut. Nothing is yet confirmed, but there are high expectations that GST on smaller cars and two-wheelers may come down from existing 28% to 18%, while also seeing some reduction for bigger cars and SUVs.

Maruti’s wholesales were down 8% in Aug as the company sent nearly 1.3 lakh units to dealerships against 1.4 lakh units in the same month of last year. Partho Banerjee, senior executive officer (marketing & sales) at Maruti Suzuki said, while bookings have been healthy during Onam festival in the south and Ganpati in Maharashtra, buyers are still not ready to take deliveries.“Footfalls and inquiries remain healthy even as there is a slowdown when it comes to deliveries. We have seen a 16% growth in bookings during Onam, which is a good number,” Banerjee said, hoping that a favourable decision on GST rates will give a further impetus to demand and deliveries. Mahindra’s wholesales were down 9% over similar reasons. Hyundai’s dispatches were down 11% to around 44,000 units against 49,500 units in the same month last year. Tata Motors deliveries were down 7% at 41,000 units. The two-wheeler industry saw TVS Motor report higher dispatches to dealerships.