Kochi: The Ernakulam regional transport office (RTO) has registered 198 transport vehicles (used for commercial purpose) in November this year. This is the highest number for transport vehicles registered in a month in the last 20 months in the Ernakulam RTO limit.
Despite a high number of non-transport vehicles continuing to register every month once the lockdown restrictions were eased after both the first and second waves, registration of transport vehicles continue to remain sluggish. It has not crossed registration of even 150 transport vehicles in a month after April last year. In March last year, 246 transport vehicles were registered.
The motor vehicles officials said the Covid-induced financial crisis backpedalled the registration of transport vehicles. The registration of transport vehicles has not reached the pre-Covid level yet, though it shows uptick.
“The sector is now showing signs of revival after Covid and it is reflected in the registration of vehicles too,” said a MVD official in Ernakulam RTO office.
Most of the transport vehicles registered this year in the Ernakulam office were small goods carriers. As many as 916 goods carriers were registered this year in Ernakulam RTO limit so far, followed by motor cabs and autorickshaws.
While experts in the field of economy feel that the service sector has not picked up yet.
“The service sector is still in poor growth. It is yet to reach pre-Covid level. It was the service sector which was growing highly before the pandemic struck us last year. As per the recent data released by the RBI, our economy is growing. Going by economics, growth in the primary sector, which is agriculture, will push the tertiary sector as well in later stages,” said Dhanuraj of centre for public policy research.
Meanwhile, registration of non-transport vehicles, including light motor vehicles and private ones, slowed down in the current quarter in Ernakulam.
Ernakulam RTO has registered 2,030 non-transport vehicles in January this year. But it came down again with the onset of the second wave and took a U-turn by July. In September, 2,013 vehicles were registered in the non-transport category and it came down again in the next two months.
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Talking about the near term outlook, Gulati said that the new variant of Covid ‘Omicron’ has once again gripped the entire nation in fear, which will further impact the overall vehicle demand. Educational Institutions and offices which were planning to reopen fully have once again deferred their plans and are allowing work/study from home. Price rise due to high input costs and high fuel costs are continuing to add to customers’ woes.