By:- Mr. Sai Giridhar, President – Federation of Automobile Dealers Association
“One year ago, a single, decisive reform rewrote the arithmetic of aspiration for millions of Indian families. On its first anniversary, the verdict sits in the numbers: in the eleven months since GST 2.0 took effect — October 2025 to August 2026 — Indian auto retail has registered over 3 crore vehicles, growing nearly 20% year-on-year, against under 5% in the comparable year before the reform. In a single stroke, GST 2.0 quadrupled the industry’s pace of growth.
The engine of this momentum has been one word — affordability. By permanently lowering the on-road cost of the vehicles that Bharat actually buys — the small car, the commuter two-wheeler, the tractor, the commercial vehicle — the reform did not merely pull demand forward; it widened the market itself, bringing first-time and long-deferred buyers back onto the showroom floor. The flying start of last festive season has not faded; a year on, it has become the new normal.
And the fruits have been structural, not seasonal. In this one year, the industry has posted its best-ever months across categories; two-wheelers — the truest barometer of mass India — have reclaimed a peak last seen in 2018; alternative fuels have, for the first time in history, overtaken petrol in passenger vehicles; and rural Bharat has begun to outpace urban India across the board. This is what a well-designed reform looks like when it reaches the last mile.
For this, the automobile retail industry owes a profound debt of gratitude to the vision and resolve of the Government of India, under the leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. By placing affordability at the very heart of policy, the Government lit the fuse on a fresh cycle of consumption and lifted Indian auto retail into its next orbit of momentum and growth.
We are equally mindful that our manufacturing partners are absorbing genuine cost pressures from global volatility — crude, commodities and currency — and we respect that delicate balance. But the clearest lesson of this remarkable year is this: affordability is the single most powerful lever of demand. So long as affordability remains in frame, India’s auto retail will keep writing new records — and keep powering the larger India Growth Story, from our metros to our smallest districts.”