India will take 40 yrs to draw level with China's car penetration: Bhargava

As a result, the small car market has been shrinking as two-wheeler customers shelve or delay plans to upgrade to a four-wheeled drive

Maruti Suzuki India Chairman R C Bhargava on Monday at a media interaction said that even with the number of cars per 1,000 population projected to grow by three to five per year, India would still take 40 years to draw level with China.

In the past five years, car penetration on average grew by a mere one per 1,000 population, especially with the closure of plants and disruption of sales during the pandemic.  

The key drivers for the car industry’s sluggish growth — and consequently penetration — are twofold: high taxation and higher cost of regulatory compliance, especially for small cars.

Bhargava