Number of operating vehicles in India FY 1951-2022
In a country with the third-largest road network in the world, the total number of vehicles in fiscal year 2022 stood at 354 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 has also been on the rise with nearly 2.9 billion metric tons per kilometer of freight transported through roads in the financial year 2020.
Demographics
The youth in the capital city of Delhi prefer to use public transport, and it is known to be one of the best public transport networks in the country. 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 18 million two-wheelers sold in the country in financial year 2024.
Road accidents
With the increase of motor bike sales in India, there was also a rise in the risks involved with them. With over 32.9 thousand road accidents by two-wheelers in 2022, 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.
