NEW DELHI: On the back of festive purchases around Akshay Tritiya and rural demand post-harvest, India's total automobile retail sales rose 2.95% year-on-year in April 2025, reaching 22.87 lakh units, according to the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA). Growth was seen in all segments except commercial vehicles, which dipped 1% year-on-year.
"With the tariff war paused, stock markets staged a sharp pullback—alleviating investor concerns—and customers thus leveraged Chaitra Navratri, Akshay Tritiya, Bengali New Year, Baisakhi and Vishu to complete purchases, helping April end on a positive note," said FADA President CS Vigneshwar.
Two-wheeler retail volumes grew 2.25% YoY and 11.84% MoM to 16,86,774 units.
Vigneshwar stated that dealers reported buoyant enquiry growth in rural areas post-Rabi harvest, driven by strong crop yields, healthy reservoir levels and a favourable monsoon outlook, while wedding-season tailwinds sustained rural offtake.
Despite limited model introductions, the passenger vehicle (PV) segment registered a 1.55% YoY increase in sales to 3,49,939 units.
"This performance reflects a discount-led market and elevated inventories—approximately a 50-day supply—amid cautious consumer sentiment that tempered enquiry-to-sale conversions," added Vigneshwar.
Going forward in May, FADA said that this month"s agricultural cycle is concluding on a strong note, underpinned by healthy crop prices and robust mandi procurement.
However, the dealer body added that Kantar's Rural Barometer and GroupM data signal heightened consumer selectivity in rural India— household spending has outpaced income growth, and inflationary pressures are tempering discretionary purchases.
Here, non-essential categories such as two-wheelers is likewise plateauing amid rising living costs.
Dealer feedback also painted a nuanced picture for May across all segments.
"In two-wheelers, marriage-season and postharvest demand should underpin enquiries, yet financiers are tightening customer-level credit criteria—higher CIBIL requirements and down-payment mandates—despite broader banking-system liquidity… PV retails are expected to hold steady but muted, as buyers await new-model roll-outs and contend with elevated financing costs," said FADA.