Car registrations barely grew between January and September 2025, compared to the same period last year. But a turnaround in October and an unusually strong November suggest a recovery may be taking hold.
Car registrations barely grew between January and September 2025, compared to the same period last year. But a turnaround in October and an unusually strong November suggest a recovery may be taking hold.
After a dull performance over much of 2025, India's passenger vehicle market has finally begun showing signs of life, with October and November bringing welcome relief to the struggling segment.
The turnaround began in October, when the 42-day festive period combined with significant GST cuts sparked a 14% year-on-year jump in passenger vehicle registrations. The GST council's decision to slash rates on certain types of cars from 28% to 18%, which substantially reduced the total tax burden including cess, helped boost monthly car sales.
November reign
But the real surprise came in November, which saw even stronger 27.2% growth, according to a Mint analysis of the road transport ministry's Vahan dashboard, which tracks vehicle registrations at regional transport offices (RTOs) across India. This was despite the fact that last year's festive season spilled over into November, which wasn't the case this year. November's growth further defied expectations as car sales typically slow down after the festive-season boost.
"November 2025 defied the conventional post-festive slowdown, delivering a resilient performance despite an unusually high comparative base," said C.S. Vigneshwar, president of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA).
This momentum was seen across most of the country. Mint's analysis of Vahan data showed 21 of 34 states and union territories recorded stronger passenger vehicle growth in November than in October.
The trend was particularly striking among the 10 states that account for about three-fourths of total passenger vehicle sales. Maharashtra led with a 78-percentage-point surge in growth between the two months, followed by Gujarat (25 percentage points) and Rajasthan (14 percentage points). Even smaller markets such as Manipur, Assam, and Jharkhand saw a significant improvement in November. However, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Haryana lagged among major states.
Among major passenger vehicle makers, Mahindra & Mahindra posted the strongest growth in November, while Maruti Suzuki led across the October-November period.
For Tata Motors, November marked a crucial turnaround as the company posted nearly 17% growth after back-to-back contractions in September and October. Hyundai Motor and Mahindra & Mahindra also strengthened their performance from October, while market leader Maruti Suzuki maintained its steady growth.
This resilience is significant because for most of 2025, passenger vehicle sales recorded muted year-on-year growth. The festive-season boost, amplified by GST cuts, appears to have broken that pattern.
Yet, the full-year picture remains sobering. Through November, total registrations stood at 4.97 million vehicles – just shy of 2024's full-year total of 4.98 million. Unless December sees another strong performance, 2025 will likely close with barely any growth over 2024.