Eight in 100 cars sold in India are now EVs; Tata leads the charge

Electric vehicles made up 8.5% of all new car sales in India as EV registrations soared 95% year-on-year to 36,108 units in September, according to data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles (TMPV) remains the country’s top-selling EV maker by volume, having recorded 14,791 EV registrations in September, aided by compact electric SUV Punch. In comparison, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), the country’s second-largest carmaker by volume, recorded 7,780 electric SUV registrations.

JSW MG Motor India, a joint venture between China’s SIAC Motor and steel-to-cement conglomerate JSW Group, clocked 5,242 EV registrations.

Vietnamese carmaker VinFast stood fourth in the pecking order with 2,964 EV registrations, driven by supplies to its ride-hailing sister concern Green SM.

South Korean carmaker Kia sold 1,262 EVs to become the fifth biggest electric carmaker by volume, thanks to the recently launched Syros EV.

Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest ICE carmaker, came in sixth with 1,104 EV registrations.

READ THIS: One-fourth of cars sold by Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles are now EVs

Elon Musk-led Tesla, which struggled to gain traction in India over the past year, showed signs of a revival with 291 EV registrations.

While EVs are growing in share, petrol maintains its lead as the dominant powertrain in passenger vehicles, with a 41% share. Compressed natural gas-powered cars accounted for 23% of total PV sales in September, compared with 22% in the same month last year. The share of CNG, however, dropped from 25% in August 2026 to 23% in September 2026.

Among two-wheelers, EV penetration rose to 11.58% in September. Three-wheelers stood out, with EV penetration reaching 65%. Overall EV penetration across categories was around 13%.

Passenger vehicle retail sales hit a record 4,27,213 units in September, rising 32.10% from a year earlier, while two-wheeler sales climbed 33.08% to 1.79 million units. Commercial vehicle retail sales grew 37.62%, crossing the one-lakh mark for the first time in any September. The surge was aided by a low-base effect, as buyers had deferred purchases ahead of the GST rate rationalisation on September 22, 2025.

FADA has warned that a series of price hikes by automakers in 2026 could begin to erode the affordability gains delivered by GST 2.0. “One year on from GST 2.0, affordability remains the single engine of this cycle,” FADA President Sai Giridhar said in a statement.

“Dealers now flag further price increases eroding that very affordability as their foremost risk for the quarter ahead. Protecting the GST gain is, to our mind, the key to converting the festive season into durable growth,” he said.

Meanwhile, passenger vehicle inventory rose by five days from the end of August to around 43–45 days, well above FADA’s recommended 21-day benchmark, with 60% of PV dealers reporting higher stock ahead of the festive season.