In the Coronavirus hit auto sales market, Bajaj Auto has managed to keep its total sales fall restricted at 38 per cent in March 2020. Speaking on the March numbers, Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director, Bajaj Auto that this is much better than its industry rivals. At a time when major Indian auto companies are reporting fall in sales to the tune of 45-50 per cent, Sharma said that Bajaj Auto could maintain its export sales even when Coronavirus hit the markets. He said that this could become possible because Bajaj Auto has majority of its export market in the African continent where the COVID-19 virus has had little impact. This helped Bajaj Auto to contain its March 2020 export sale numbers slide at only 6 per cent.

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Highlighting the takeaways from the March 2020 Bajaj Auto sales Rakesh Sharma, Executive Director at Bajaj Auto said, "Our March 2020 domestic sales have gone down at 55 per cent, wherein lockdown due to the Coronavirus spread has a major role. To some extent, we have been able to maintain our export market as it got hit by only 6 per cent compared to 55 per cent hit in the domestic market sales. We could maintain our export numbers because we have the majority of the exports in the African nations where Coronavirus has very little impact."

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Asked about the expected performance in April 2020 Rakesh Sharma of Bajaj Auto said, "When there is lockdown till 14th April, half the month is already gone. Once the lockdown will be lifted, it will take time to bring the entire system on track. So, We are not expecting any development in our sales numbers in April 2020 too. We are trying to keep it around 50 per cent down."

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As Auto sales are already on a decline, how much the sales have gone down due to Coronavirus was also revealed by Rakesh Sharma. He said, "It's difficult to say the impact of Coronavirus and sluggishness in the industry impacting the company's sales. But, yes, during January and February our domestic sales were down by 10-15 per cent while in March 2020 it has suddenly gone down 55 per cent. We can take a clue from these three numbers." He said that it would take around 5-6 months for the industry to come out completely from the Coronavirus impact.