Number of operating vehicles in India FY 1951-2020

In a country with the third largest road network in the world, the total number of vehicles in fiscal year 2020 stood at 326.3 million. Road travel seemed to be the preferred choice in India with around 60 percent of the population who used personal or shared vehicles for commute. Not only public commute, the industrial movement of goods through roads had also been on the rise with nearly 2.7 billion metric tons of freight transported through roads in financial year 2019.

Demographics

The youth in the capital city of Delhi preferred to use public transport with over 40 and known to be one of the best public networks in the country in 2018. In the southern cities of Hyderabad and Chennai however, personal two-wheelers were vehicles of choice for the young generation. This affection towards the easily-navigable two-wheelers was reflected in the sales volume, with an approximate 13.5 million two-wheelers sold in the country in financial year 2022.

Road accidents

With the increase of motor bike sales in India, there was also a rise in the risks involved with them. With over 57.4 thousand road accidents by two-wheelers in 2020, each year, about three to five percent of the GDP of the country was invested in road accidents. Despite the downside, the number of motorcycles was likely to increase to make travelling within a mercilessly congested and not easily accessible network of roads within the large cities. Moreover, with continued urbanization and a consumer sector that continues to burgeon, the development of the automotive industry was expected to see continued growth.