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However, yet to recover to pre-lockdown level
Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 1
Vehicle registration in Nagaland has been gradually improving since August 2020 but is yet to reach pre-lockdown level, informed data available on the VAHAN dashboard.
During the first quarter of 2021 (January 1-March 31), a total of 6,704 vehicles were registered in Nagaland as compared to 7,491 in 2020.
Registration of vehicles has been on a downward trend since 2019, but it decreased drastically in April 2020 after the imposition of lockdown measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
For instance, registrations decreased from 2,705 in March 2020 to 978 in April, before reaching record low of 10 in July, the dashboard showed.
With the gradual easing of lockdown measures thereafter, it increased to 689 in August 2020 and has been more or less maintained the upward trend since then.
The momentum continued into the New Year and registrations in the first three months of 2021 have been positive. Data for first quarter since 2017, however, still indicated lower registrations in 2021. (See Table).
Similar trend is noticeable across India as vehicle registrations decreased from 2.15 crore in 2019 to 1.64 crore in 2020 or a fall by 23.68%.
Total registration and Top-5 RTOs/DTOs
According to the dashboard, as of April 1, 2021, a total of 3,58,817 vehicles have been registered so far in Nagaland, including 6,727 this year.
Registration was highest in 2018 at 33,903, up from 28,395 or by 19.40% in 2017. However, it decreased by 13.79% to 29,229 in 2019 and further sliding down to 16,207 (or by 44.55%) in 2020. It remains to be seen whether the progressive recovery witnessed in first quarter would continue in 2021.
Meanwhile, further analysis of the data informed that with an overall total of 1,48,519, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) Kohima handled the bulk of registrations in the state so far.
Dimapur District Transport Office (DTO) was placed second with 99,244 registrations, followed by Mokokchung RTO with 50,650.
Till 2019, Kohima RTO had the higher registrations, but Dimapur DTO has been slowly catching up in recent years and the latter had higher registrations at 10,439 in 2020 as against 6,535 in Kohima.
Phek DTO with 18,553 and Tuensang DTO with 17,120 rounded up the top 5 in terms of registrations.
Top Category and ‘Maker’
In terms of category of cars, registrations of Light Motor Vehicles is highest at 2,511 so far this year, followed by Heavy Goods Vehicle at 1,762 and Two Wheeler (Non-Transport) at 1,746.
Meanwhile, registration based on automobile manufacturing companies designated as ‘Maker’ on the dashboard, had Maruti Suzuki India Ltd leading with 1,412, followed by Tata Motors Ltd at 1,285 and Mahindra & Mahindra Limited at 597.
In the two-wheeler segment, Honda Motorcycle And Scooter India (P) Ltd was on the top at 447, followed closely by TVS Motor Company Ltd at 394 and Hero Motocorp Ltd at 343.
As observed in earlier analysis, sale of relatively premium cars and bikes also maintained an upward trend with likes of Isuzu, KIA, Nissan and MG Motors showing high registrations.
There were also 106 registrations for Royal-Enfield and 1 each for Jaguar Land Rover India Limited and Mercedes-Benz India Pvt Ltd. Registrations for construction equipment and machinery (vehicles) were also noticeable.
The VAHAN dashboard, maintained by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH), is a centralised database of vehicles in 33 out of 37 States or Union Territories (UTs) in India. 8 out of 9 RTOs/DTO offices in Nagaland are using the VAHAN 4.0, a web based online application for issue of vehicle registration certificate.
The Vahan4 running offices in Nagaland are: Dimapur DTO, Kohima RTO, Mokokchung RTO, Mon DTO, Phek DTO, Tuensang DTO, Wokha DTO and Zunheboto DTO.
