DEALERS IN DISTRESS

CV dealers are a worried lot with business witnessing a significant dip.

- Deven Lad

There are an estimated 1000 plus CV dealers in India. These are franchises of six or seven CV majors. Chances are that there are more CV dealers if those catering to regional and local brands were to be taken into account. Even those that cater to the rising count of e-rickshaws among others. Most are in varying degrees of distress are facing the economic slowdown of 2019 and the Covid-19 situation of 2020. Their reason for distress may vary, but distressed they are for certain. A chat with Piyush Jain, a Mumbai-based SML-Isuzu dealer, revealed that he is badly affected. Eagerly waiting for the school season to start as a big chunk of his CV sales comes from school buses, Jain is very worried. “We have had no sales for the last four months,” he expressed as a matter of fact. Informing that the pandemic unleashed itself exactly when the school season begins, Jain averred that if such conditions persist for a few more months, it would be extremely difficult to stay in business.

The bus operators, it is no secret, have been the worst affected when compared to the truck operators. Most suffered from having their buses rendered inoperative during the two months of what is described as the world’s most brutal lockdown.