New Delhi: Automobile retail sales in India declined 6.5 percent during the Navratri festival this year, with passenger vehicles recording the sharpest fall, according to provisional registration data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on Wednesday.
Total vehicle registrations during the 10-day festival, from October 11 to October 20, stood at 11.23 lakh units, compared with 12.01 lakh units during the corresponding festive period in 2025.
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The decline, however, comes against an unusually high base last year, when the implementation of reduced Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates coincided with the beginning of Navratri, triggering a rush of buyers to automobile showrooms.
The 2025 festival also lasted 11 days, compared with 10 days this year, making the year-on-year comparison less favourable.
Passenger vehicle registrations plunged 21.9 percent to 1.83 lakh units during Navratri, marking the steepest contraction among major automobile categories.
Two-wheeler registrations slipped 2.8 percent to 8.34 lakh units, while three-wheeler sales declined 7.5 percent to 45,735 units.
Commercial vehicles and tractors were the only segments to register growth, although the gains remained modest.
Commercial vehicle registrations increased 1.1 percent to 35,618 units, while tractor sales edged up 0.9 percent to 22,690 units.
FADA President Sai Giridhar attributed the overall decline largely to the exceptional sales recorded during last year's festive period.
“The marginal 6.52 per cent dip versus Navratri 2025 is largely optical: last year Navratri ran eleven days against ten 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.
Despite the industry-wide decline in passenger vehicle registrations, leading automobile manufacturers maintained that consumer demand remained healthy.
Maruti Suzuki India, the country's largest passenger vehicle manufacturer, said its Navratri deliveries were nearly at last year's level, although production capacity constraints prevented it from meeting additional demand.
“Deliveries are almost the same in the Navratri period this year versus last year; we are around 98 percent of last year,” Maruti Suzuki's Senior Executive Officer for Marketing and Sales Partho Banerjee told PTI.
Banerjee said the company's retail sales between the beginning of Onam and Dussehra increased approximately 30 percent year-on-year.
The automaker expects double-digit sales growth for the overall festive season, which concludes with Diwali.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles also reported encouraging consumer response, supported by increased showroom footfalls, enquiries and bookings.
“The response during Navratri has been particularly encouraging, with over 50,000 vehicles delivered during this festive period, including more than 10,000 on Dussehra alone,” said Amit Kamat, chief commercial officer at Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles.
Hyundai Motor India similarly maintained that demand remained strong across urban and rural markets.
Managing Director and CEO Tarun Garg said the company's festive sales had started positively during Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi.
Hyundai reported nearly 41,000 registrations during the period between Shradh and Navratri, representing year-on-year growth of 30 percent.
"Considering the pace of bookings, we expect momentum to continue through Dhanteras and Diwali," he added.
The contrasting trends between FADA's overall registration figures and individual manufacturers' sales performance indicate that demand has not been uniform across automobile brands and segments.
Electric vehicles emerged as a major bright spot during the festive period, significantly outperforming the broader automobile market.
According to FADA, EV retail sales increased 26.78 percent year-on-year, with their share of total festive vehicle registrations rising to approximately 10.5 percent from 7.7 percent a year earlier.
The growth suggests that electric mobility continues to attract buyers even as conventional vehicle registrations face pressure from a high comparative base.
"The real standout is electrification - EV retail grew 26.78 per cent and now accounts for close to 10.5 percent 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,” FADA's Giridhar added.
The decline in Navratri registrations presents a mixed picture for India's automobile industry. While the headline numbers suggest a slowdown, the shorter festival period and last year's GST-driven demand surge have distorted the annual comparison.
Strong sales reported by major manufacturers and the continued expansion of electric vehicles indicate pockets of resilience in consumer demand.
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The upcoming Dhanteras and Diwali buying period will provide a clearer indication of whether the automobile market can sustain festive momentum beyond the favourable impact of tax reductions.
For dealerships, the key challenge will be converting strong enquiries and bookings into actual deliveries while managing inventory and supply constraints.
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