Consumer durables index sees 39.1% fall y-o-y in H1FY21

ACs, essentially a seasonal product and heavily dependent on summer season for sales, witnessed a sharp decrease in production by 79% in H1FY21 to 3.4 lakh units from 16.2 lakh units in H1FY20.

Production of television sets fell from 13.2 lakh units in H1FY20 to 9.5 lakh units in H1FY21 -- a fall of 28%. However, production gradually started increasing from May. This rise in demand is likely driven by an increase in viewership during lockdown.

Production of items that enhance personal home convenience such as refrigerators, washing/laundry machines and electric cooking appliances like toasters, food processors etc witnessed a decline in H1FY21 but increased sequentially on a month-on-month basis from May onwards.

Electric cooking appliances like toasters, food processors etc witnessed a decline in H1FY21 but increased sequentially on a month-on-month basis from May. This growth was particularly driven by change in consumer behavior during lockdown as people focused on making their lives at home easier and simpler.

Covid-19 induced lockdown affected the sale of varied consumer durables during H1FY21. A lot of consumer durable products that are essentially discretionary in nature witnessed a decline. Refrigerators production declined in all months of H1FY21 but saw a gradual progress in last month of Sep 2020.

Covid-19 induced lockdown led to work from home for a lot of people. Additionally, classes and lectures were conducted online too. This in turn supported the growth in production of computers and peripherals by 2.1% in H1FY21 TO Rs 970 Cr as compared with Rs Rs 950 Cr in the same period last year.