Pune: As vehicles’ registrations went on till the evening, the numbers are expected to reach all-time high this fiscal, authorities said.
“This financial year has been of a turnover and people getting back to their normal routine and life. And that has been evident in the registrations of vehicles,” an official from the Pimpri Chinchwad Regional Transport Office (RTO) said.
Sanjiv Bhor, Pune’s deputy regional transport officer, said that even though there was an improvement in registrations in the last financial year, the shortage of semiconductor chips had cast a shadow.
“The shortage had resulted in the waiting period of many models drastically increasing. Some car models had waiting period of a full year, resulting in people dropping their buying plans. Also, the fear of Covid was also there last financial year unlike this time,” Bhor said. “The situation has improved a lot now.”
Another official said the growth is expected to continue. “Registrations were highest during the festival periods of Diwali, Dhanteras and Gudi Padwa, compared to the corresponding periods in the previous years,” the official said. In fact, in the week leading to Gudi Padwa this year, there was a slight 4% increase in vehicle registrations, compared to the same period the previous year. However, the figures in the Pimpri Chinchwad RTO witnessed a 16% drop during the week ahead of Gudi Padwa.
“But people are also buying vehicles round-the-year,” the official noted. “There has also been a big rise in the sale of special registration numbers this financial year. All these factors show that the buying power of the people has come back, and they aren’t afraid any more. The electric vehicle (EV) market is presently booming and major registrations of EVs will happen.”
Kamlesh Jadhav, who bought an electric two-wheeler this Gudi Padwa, said: “My wife needed a vehicle to commute, and we bought it this year without much thinking.” Jadav, who lost his job in 2021, added that there were no worries as both he and his wife have been working for the past year.
