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India’s EV shift isn’t about policies anymore. Now, it’s driven by cost

In March, sales of electric passenger vehicles touched an all-time high of 22,490 units of 4,40,144 passenger vehicles sold, thus crossing the important 5% mark for the first time.

The Federation of Automotive Dealer Associations recently released retail automotive sales figures for the past financial year. After a few years of near-stagnant growth, the passenger vehicle market climbed an impressive 13 per cent in the financial year 2025-2026, and sales touched a shade more than 4.7 million units. Two-Wheelers grew even faster at 13.4 per cent with 21.4 million units sold.

The numbers from the Federation of Automotive Dealer Associations (FADA) tend to be a fairly accurate indicator of sales at the retail level, as they use vehicle registration data from the Ministry of Road Transportation and Highways (MoRTH) VAHAN portal and a few Regional Transport Offices (RTOs), which are not part of the portal as yet.

What was interesting to note was that sales of electric vehicles (EVs) were ramping up. In three-wheelers, electrification is now entrenched; 60 per cent of three-wheelers sold are now electric. The operating cost advantages of EVs, especially as small commercial vehicles, are unbeatable, and companies like Bengaluru-based Exponent Energy, which have developed rapid 15-minute charging solutions, are now offering conversion of existing CNG/LPG three-wheelers to electrics. 

But the overall annual percentage for electric two-wheelers as a proportion of sales grew from 6.09 per cent in FY25 to 6.54 per cent in FY26. And while the growth of electrics among passenger vehicles was tremendous, as a percentage of sales, it grew from just 2.61 per cent to 4.25 per cent of sales from FY25 to FY26.

To look at EV sales through the lens of the whole........

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