Eicher Motors shares slipped to a 52-week low of Rs 23,072.75 after reporting modest growth in Royal Enfield sales.

At 12:38 pm, Eicher Motors shares traded down 6.11 percent at Rs 23,32. The company's motorcycle sales rose 2 percent to 71,662 units in September while commercial vehicle sales rose 9.5 percent on-year to 6,663 units.

Eicher Motors was the biggest drag on the BSE Auto index, which dipped 1.81 percent to trade at 21,246 at 12.39 pm. The stock has underperformed the sector by 4.79 percent, while year-to-data, it has declined by nearly 23 percent.

Brokerage firm Jefferies said in its report that Royal Enfield disappointed yet again with only 1 percent growth in domestic sales. "Though management indicated impact of 10,000 on production due to worker related issues at the Oragadam plant, we believe it is more of a demand issue," Jefferies said a report.

Separately, Royal Enfield said that its Oragadam plant has been operational since Saturday and the company has not fired any employees.

“Royal Enfield’s manufacturing facility at Oragadam has been operational since Saturday, September 29, 2018, after a part of the workforce had not reported for duty since September 24th. We expect to reach regular levels of production in a phased manner. Our manufacturing facility at Vallam Vadagal continues to operate and deliver to its full capacity. We would like to clarify that the company has not terminated anyone in the wake of recent developments at the plant," the statement said.

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