New Delhi, Oct 21 (IANS) The nine days of Navratri saw sales of nearly 11.23 lakh auto units over 10 days, telling a fundamentally healthy story of the Indian automobile market, the data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) showed on Wednesday.
The retail sales were up close to 27 per cent over 2024 Navratri — the last truly comparable festive period — with passenger vehicles higher by over 10 per cent and two-wheelers by more than 32 per cent.
“The marginal 6.52 per cent dip versus Navratri 2025 is largely optical: last year Navratri ran 11 days against 10 and coincided with the GST 2.0 roll-out, which pulled a wave of pent-up demand into one extraordinary window,” said FADA President Sai Giridhar.
The real standout is electrification — EV retails grew 26.78 per cent and now account for close to 10.5 per cent of festive sales, up from about 7.7 per cent a year ago, showing that India’s EV shift has become self-sustaining.
“As we enter the Dhanteras-to-Diwali wave, we remain cautiously optimistic: affordability is strong, aspiration is rising, and auto retail continues to mirror the enduring momentum of the India Growth Story,” said Giridhar.
Meanwhile, domestic automobile retail sales rose 31.82 per cent year-on-year to a record 25,36,920 units in September helped by festive demand and a low base, according to FADA data.
As per the data, retail sales rose 4.69 per cent from August. However, September marked the industry’s best-ever month. The headline annual growth should be viewed with caution as September 2025 sales were impacted by purchase deferments ahead of the implementation of GST 2.0, FADA said.
Moreover, the industry recorded its best-ever September across five of the six vehicle categories, while the first half of FY27 also saw record retail sales of 1,55,12,319 units, up 20.77% year-on-year, it added.
Segment-wise, two-wheeler sales rose 33.08 per cent year-on-year to 17,90,188 units, while passenger vehicle sales increased 32.10 per cent to 4,27,213 units. Commercial vehicle sales grew 37.62 per cent to 1,03,557 units, crossing the one-lakh mark in September for the first time.
–IANS
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