Indian Automobile Industry Analysis

The automobile industry in India is world’s fourth largest, with the country currently being the world's 4th largest manufacturer of cars and 7th largest manufacturer of commercial vehicles in 2017. Indian automotive industry (including component manufacturing) is expected to reach Rs 16.16-18.18 trillion (US$ 251.4-282.8 billion) by 2026. Two-wheelers dominate the industry and made up 81 per cent share in the domestic automobile sales in FY18. Overall, Domestic automobiles sales increased at 7.01 per cent CAGR between FY13-18 with 24.97 million vehicles getting sold in FY18. Indian automobile industry has received Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) worth US$ 19.29 billion between April 2000 and June 2018.

Domestic automobile production increased at 7.08 per cent CAGR between FY13-18 with 29.07 million vehicles manufactured in the country in FY18. During April-September 2018, automobile production increased 13.32 per cent year-on-year to reach 16.65 million units.

During April-September 2018, highest year-on-year growth in domestic sales among all the categories was recorded in commercial vehicles at 37.82 per cent followed by 36.50 per cent year-on-year growth in the sales of three-wheelers.

The passenger vehicle sales in India crossed the 3.2 million units in FY18, and is further expected increase to 10 million units by FY20.

The government aims to develop India as a global manufacturing as well as a research and development (R&D) hub. It has set up National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) centres as well as a National Automotive Board to act as facilitator between the government and the industry. Under (NATRIP), five testing and research centres have been established in the country since 2015.

The Indian government has also set up an ambitious target of having only electric vehicles being sold in the country. Indian auto industry is expected to see 8-12 per cent increase in its hiring during FY19. The Ministry of Heavy Industries, Government of India has shortlisted 11 cities in the country for introduction of electric vehicles (EVs) in their public transport systems under the FAME (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles in India) scheme. The scheme has further been extended to March 2019 from September 2018. Number of vehicles supported under FAME scheme has increased to 192,451 units in March 2018 from 5,197 units in June 2015.

Automobile exports grew 24.34 per cent during April-September 2018. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 3.05 per cent during 2016-2026. Also, Luxury car market in India is expected to grow at a 25 per cent CAGR till 2020.