Pandemic, fuel prices bring bus-body building sector to near halt

Low demand causing loss of employment for many skilled and unskilled workers

The steep fall in demand for modes of public transport following the pandemic and the skyrocketing fuel price have resulted in bus-body building firms in Kerala recording negligible orders. Kottayam-based Kondody Motors, which is among the select firms across India that are capable of manufacturing bus bodies that adhere to AIS 052 (the new bus body code specified by the Centre), received a total of 15 orders in the 2020-21 fiscal, in stark comparison to 400 in 2019-20 and around 500 in 2018-19, according to Rahul Tom, the firm’s managing director. Even among the 15 orders the firm received, less than five were for public transport buses, the rest being for educational and other institutions. The negligible demand for new buses has in turn caused loss of employment for scores of skilled and unskilled workers in the sector.