Sales booming, expect few discounts this festive season

If you are looking for heavy discounts for that Maruti Swift or LCD television you've been eyeing, hoping for a good deal this festive season, you may just be disappointed. Sumant Banerji & Vivek Sinha report.

If you are looking for heavy discounts for that Maruti Swift or LCD television you've been eyeing, hoping for a good deal this festive season, you may just be disappointed.

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With the demand for consumer goods and automobiles at historical highs in the run up to the festivities that begin this Friday (onset of Navratra), most car and two wheeler manufacturers as well as consumer goods producers have indicated discounts will be much lower than in previous years.

"The demand for our cars is so high that we are actually grappling on the supply side," said Mayank Pareek, managing executive officer (marketing and sales), Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.

"Discounts will be less by at least 15-20 per cent from last year. It will not even be across all cars."

They are not alone. The two biggest two-wheeler manufacturers in the country, Hero Honda and Bajaj, will not dole out any discounts at all.

"There'll be no discounts on our mobikes this festive season," said S Sridhar, President (motorcycle business), Bajaj Auto Ltd.

"Growth in retail sales during the festival period should be 25-30 per cent higher."

It is not very different in the consumer durable space though there may not be a complete lack of discounts. Companies such as LG, Samsung, Whirlpool and Onida will give freebies and gifts with their products but the quantum is less than what was in the past.

"Competition ensures nobody can do away with discounts altogether," said an Onida official.

"But demand is good this year, so compulsion to dole out heavy discounts is much less."