India's car, two-wheeler sales slump in April on weak consumer sentiment

Passenger vehicle sales in India dropped 17% in April - their worst monthly fall in nearly eight years, data from an industry body showed on Monday, as weak sentiment, high insurance costs and a liquidity crunch dented car sales.

Sales of passenger vehicles dived to 247,541 in April versus 298,504 a year earlier, data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers showed. Two-wheeler sales dropped 16.4% to about 1.6 million vehicles.

Last month, the country's biggest automaker Maruti Suzuki Ltd said it sold 458,479 vehicles in the three months ended March 31, down 0.7 percent on-year, and forecast a weak rate of growth for the current fiscal year.