2W, 3W and PV sales saw double-digit growth and while CV sales also improved, the tractor segment reported a marginal decline
Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), has released data on total vehicle retail sales during the 42-day festive period. The festive period in India commenced with Navratri on 15th October and ended 15 days after Dhanteras which fell on November 25, 2025. It was during this period that the Indian automobile sector saw record sales when compared with the festive period of 2022 that was celebrated between September 26, 2022, and November 6, 2022.
42-Day Festive Vehicle Sales 2023
Though sales performance was relatively low during Navratri, the situation improved significantly by Diwali, thus ending the 42-day period with an overall 18.73 percent growth across all sectors. As stated by FADA, there were 37,93,584 vehicles sold during the 42 festive periods in 2023, up 18.73 percent when compared to 31,95,213 vehicles sold in the same period of 2022.
This led to a volume growth of 5,98,371 units. Two-wheeler, three-wheeler, passenger vehicle and commercial vehicle retail sales improved by 20.71 percent, 41.39 percent, 10.32 percent and 8.11 percent, respectively. It was only tractor sales that saw a marginal de-growth of 0.44 percent YoY. Sales were particularly high across the rural sector which had received favourable rainfall in the preceding months.
FADA has collated this vehicle retail data as of November 27, 2023, in collaboration with the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and gathered from 1,355 out of 1,442 RTOs across the country.
Festive Period Retail Sales Across 2W and 3W segments
Taking two-wheeler sales into account during this 42-day festive period, sales improved by 21.71 percent to 28,93,107 percent, up from 23,96,665 units sold in the same period last year. Three-wheeler sales on the other hand saw the highest percentage increase in retail sales by 41.39 percent to 1,42,875 units up from 1,01,052 units sold in the same period of 2022.
Passenger vehicle festive retail Sales in October 2023 were boosted by strong momentum in the SUV segment to a 10.32 percent growth during the auspicious period. Total retail sales stood at 5,47,246 units in the 2023 period as against 4,96,047 units sold in the same period last year. Several automakers also announced festive discounts during this period. There were massive discounts across Tata and Mahindra vehicles while Maruti Suzuki, Honda and Hyundai also introduced attractive discounts and exchange offers during the period.
Tractor Sales Decline during 42-day festive period
Commercial vehicle retail sales grew by 8.11 percent YoY during the recently concluded festive season to 1,23,784 units, up from 1,14,498 units sold in the 2022 period. Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, and VE Commercial Vehicles (VECV) have all announced higher sales even as prices of CV have seen a significant increase in view of more stringent emission norms imposed by the government.
It was only the tractor segment that posted a YoY decline in festive retail sales during the 42-day festive period. Retail sales which had stood at 86,951 in the 2022 period dipped marginally by 0.44 percent to 86,572, thus relating to a very narrow volume decline of just 379 units.
