Collapsing Vehicle Sales Point to Modi’s Growth Challenge

(Bloomberg) -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi just got another signal that India’s economy is faltering.

Sales of passenger vehicles fell for a seventh straight month in May, the longest stretch of declines since 2014, data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers in Delhi show. Passenger car sales declined 26% from a year ago, the sharpest fall across categories.

India’s more cautious consumers are becoming a worry for policy makers after gross domestic product expanded 5.8% in the quarter ended March, the slowest pace in five years and fell behind China. That’s prompted three straight interest-rate cuts from the central bank as recent data has shown consumers cooling on purchases of everything from toothpaste to air tickets.

--With assistance from Manish Modi and Shivani Kumaresan.

To contact the reporters on this story: Ronojoy Mazumdar in Mumbai at rmazumdar7@bloomberg.net;Shruti Srivastava in New Delhi at ssrivastav74@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Candice Zachariahs, Bhuma Shrivastava

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