Auto industry remains a key driver of growth for India's economy: SIAM president

New Delhi, The automotive industry remains a key driver of India's economic growth and has made significant strides in aligning with global and national priorities regarding sustainability, decarbonisation, and safety, the automobile manufacturers' body SIAM said on Thursday.

The sector's overall contribution to the Indian economy exceeded Rs 22.75 lakh crore, contributing to about 15 per cent of the country's GST collections, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers President Shailesh Chandra said at the annual convention of the industry body.

"The industry provides direct and indirect employment to more than 30 million people and has a significant multiplier effect across related sectors and supports a vast supply chain network," Chandra noted.


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Highlighting the industry's continued steady performance across domestic markets, as well as exports in FY2025-26, he said, "Passenger vehicles segment recorded its highest-ever sales of 4.6 million units in FY2025-26, with a growth of 7.9 per cent over the previous year".

Exports from this "category also achieved their highest-ever levels at 0.91 million units, registering a growth of 17.5 per cent over the previous year".

The two-wheeler segment recorded its highest-ever domestic sales of 21.71 million units in FY 2025-26, a growth of 10.7 per cent year-on-year, Chandra noted.

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"Exports of two-wheelers registered a growth of 23.4 per cent in FY 2025-26, amounting to 5.18 million units," he said.

Similarly, Chandra said, "the three-wheeler segment recorded domestic sales of 8.4 lakh units in FY 2025-26, with a growth of 12.8 per cent".

Exports also increased from 3.1 lakh to 4.6 lakh, reflecting a growth of 50.1 per cent over the previous year.

The commercial vehicle industry clocked highest-ever domestic sales of 10.80 lakh units with a growth of 12.6 per cent in FY 2025-26, the SIAM president said, adding that exports grew at 17.4 per cent to 95,000 units in FY 2025-26.

"Alongside this growth, the industry has made significant strides in aligning with global and national priorities of sustainability, decarbonisation, and safety," Chandra noted.

He also said the entire auto industry moved to manufacturing fully E20-compliant gasoline vehicles from April 1, 2025.

"This initiative of the industry supports the government's vision of reducing dependence on crude imports and energy security," he added.

As part of this initiative, in recent months, the auto industry has seen commercial launches and demonstrations of flex fuel vehicles by some OEMs.

On electrification, he said the share of electric vehicles in the new vehicle fleet in most of the vehicle segments continued to grow in double digits for PVs, two-wheelers and three-wheelers in 2025-26.

"Total EV registrations in the country reached 2.5 million units in FY 2025-26, compared to 1.97 million units in FY 2024-25, posting a growth of 24.7 per cent," Chandra said.

The strong momentum in EV adoption has been made possible through close collaboration across the industry, with the Government of India's PM E-DRIVE scheme providing a significant impetus to accelerate the transition, he added.