Electric vehicle (EV) retail sales in India rose 26.78 per cent to 1,17,437 units during the Navratri festive period from October 11 to October 20, 2026, up from 92,628 units a year earlier, according to provisional data released by the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) on October 21, 2026.
FADA President Sai Giridhar said in a press release, electrification was the real standout of the season. He said EVs now account for close to 10.5 per cent of festive sales, up from about 7.7 per cent a year ago, which in his view shows that India’s shift to EVs has become self-sustaining.
Electric two-wheelers accounted for the bulk of volumes. Their retail sales rose 33.41 per cent to 75,758 units from 56,787 units during Navratri 2025, the data showed. Electric three-wheeler sales grew 10.51 per cent to 28,086 units from 25,416 units. Electric passenger vehicle (PV) sales increased 25.97 per cent to 12,305 units from 9,768 units.
Electric commercial vehicles (CV) recorded the highest growth rate. Their sales rose 96.04 per cent to 1,288 units from 657 units a year ago.
Giridhar described Navratri 2024 as the last truly comparable festive period. Against that period, total EV retail sales were up 83.06 per cent from 64,153 units. Over the same two-year comparison, electric two-wheeler sales grew 87.29 per cent from 40,450 units and electric three-wheeler sales rose 39.32 per cent from 20,159 units. Electric PV sales were up 278.38 per cent from 3,252 units, and electric CV sales were up 341.10 per cent from 292 units.
Across all segments, vehicle retail sales stood at 11,23,086 units during the ten-day period. That was 6.52 per cent lower than the 12,01,479 units sold in Navratri 2025, but 26.76 per cent higher than the 8,85,998 units sold in Navratri 2024.
Giridhar said the decline against last year was largely optical. He explained that the 2025 festive period ran for 11 days instead of 10 and coincided with the roll-out of GST 2.0, which pulled pent-up demand into one exceptional window. Compared with Navratri 2024, he said PV retail was higher by over 10 per cent and two-wheeler retail by more than 32 per cent.
According to FADA, the data was collated as on October 21, 2026, in collaboration with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and gathered from 1,468 out of 1,469 regional transport offices. The federation said registration data for the three-wheeler, CV and tractor categories was not available for Telangana. It added that the Navratri 2025 data covers September 22 to October 2, 2025, and the Navratri 2024 data covers October 3 to October 12, 2024.
Looking ahead to the Dhanteras-to-Diwali period, Giridhar said FADA remains cautiously optimistic. He said affordability is strong, aspiration is rising and auto retail continues to reflect the momentum of India’s growth story.
