GST And HCVs

Heavy commercial vehicles seem set to gain from GST.

- Bhushan Mhapralkar

The presence of Tata Signa 4923.S prime mover on Indian highways is growing. It is reflective of the growth of value trucks that are modern, safe and comfortable. The Signa 4923.S is however not the only one. In 2017, the HCV segment saw many new introductions. Hinting at a shift towards higher tonnage, new HCVs hit the road. Some of these were the MAN 49.300 Evo 6x4 prime mover, the Eicher Pro 8040 6x4 prime mover, the BharatBenz 4928T 6x4 prime mover, BharatBenz 4023T 4x2 prime mover, Eicher Pro 6040 4x2 prime mover, and the Eicher Pro 5035 4x2 prime mover. The list of new rigid HCVs that were introduced in 2017 is no less significant. In the 2017 calendar year, 321,319 M&HCVs were sold according to the Society of Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The least sales were recorded in April 2017. A mere 10,602 M&HCVs were sold. If the effect of demonetisation lingered, the migration to BSIV happened in April 2017. Almost a month later, Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented.

The GST effect