Automobile dealers' body Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on Friday said passenger vehicle retail sales in September declined 20.1 per cent to 1,57,972 units against the same period last year as the onset of festival season and never-seen-before discounts failed to lift demand.

According to the federation, passenger vehicle sales stood at 1,97,653 units in September 2018.

Two-wheeler sales declined by 12.1 per cent to 10,98,271 units last month as compared with 12,48,998 units in the year-ago period.

Commercial vehicle sales dropped by 18.5 per cent to 63,518 units against 77,980 units in September last year.

Three-wheeler sales saw an increase of 1.8 per cent to 55,553 units last month from 54,560 units in the same period in the previous year.

Total sales across categories declined by 12.9 per cent to 13,75,314 units in September as against 15,79,191 units in the same month last year.

FADA president Ashish Harsharaj Kale said retail sales were under pressure during the month and the de-growth was on expected lines.

'The continued heavy rains in various regions and the shraddh period also contributed to this sales lag. The complete effect of the positive measures announced by the government was still not visible at the retail levels in the month of September,' he added.

High inventory levels which started with festive season last year still continue to be a problematic area, Kale said.

While commercial vehicles showed slight reduction in inventory levels, passenger vehicle segment witnessed an increase as companies pushed in higher number of units anticipating higher sales during the festive season, the federation said.

Two-wheeler inventory also continues to be very high and is a big cause of concern, it added.

FADA said it has compiled data from 1,188 out of a total of 1,461 RTOs in the country.