Electric vehicle sales tumble by 25% in pandemic-stricken FY21

Electric vehicle (EV) sales declined by a quarter during the pandemic-stricken financial year ended 31 March despite a surge in sales in recent months.

About 237,000 EVs were sold during FY21 – a 25% decline over FY20. EVs accounted for just 1.2% of the overall vehicle sales in the country with about 18.8 million vehicles with combustion engines sold during the same period.

EV sales included about 143,800 electric two-wheelers, which is a decline of 6% over the previous year. Of these, 40,800 were in the high-speed category that requires registration with regional transport authorities. The remaining 103,000 were low-speed scooters.


Electric three-wheeler sales declined by 60% to just 88,400 units. Meanwhile, four-wheeler sales improved by 35% on a low base to 4,588 units.

The data were compiled by the Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV), a lobby of EV makers.

“We were anticipating a good growth before the start of FY21, but sales remained stagnant due to various reasons," said Sohinder Gill, director-general of SMEV.

Gill lobbied for better financing of EVs, which remain underserved by major lenders, unlike conventional vehicles. He also asked for better consumer-awareness drives from the state and central governments.

A recent report by Deloitte concluded: “The world outside Europe, China and the United States is lagging behind in terms of EV sales.” It noted that India, like many markets, was dominated by low-cost models which remained an area that EV makers haven’t been able to penetrate so far because of EVs’ comparative higher price.