[shreevishnu]

Due to pandemic, given overall downturn in economic activity, there is a drop in demand for personal transportation that isn't owned by the user.

If you are cabbie who has to pay off your EMIs, you will run your Etios sedan or Dzire as a hatch on Ola/Uber to get incentives or have adequate revenue to pay off bills given that running costs are comparable to hatchbacks. Premium rates for sedan are desirable, but existential crises will allow him to make a short term compromise of margin for revenue.

Run a step lower, an indica owner will be as cheap as 3w for hire. The passenger segment user would upgrade to a hatch, a driver/owner cabbie would do a lot lower to cover costs if an older car (maybe already depreciated).

This isn't the case in cargo.

3W sales should return to normal once there is a semblance of normalcy in our lives. Returning demand will allow cabbies to return to being premium, and Autos to being profiteering con-jobs. The issue today is it's hard to be an ill behaved profiteering con when the alternative is a relatively reasonable hatch.

Also, most autos are not driven by their owners. The typical owners are those who have spare cash on hand (of the darker shades?!) and the typical driver in larger cities is an up & coming migrant (who is in "native"?).