Commercial vehicles power J&K's auto sector growth in April

Srinagar, May 7: With a slump in retail business activity and a nosedive in tourism influx, the automobile sector continues to chart its growth story by retaining sales momentum in Jammu and Kashmir.

While the majority of retail verticals of in J&K have witnessed a slowdown of late, on the back of robust online sales and less disposable incomes, the automobile sales have remained steady with the Union Territory recording 1.33 per cent year-on-year growth in April this year, a month that marks beginning of the Financial Year 2025-26.

Although the marginal growth recorded in J&K,  is lesser than the all-India average growth of 2.95 per cent but considering the onset of spring season, a period when economic activity is just picking up after a long winter, growth of 1.33 per cent shows a positive buying sentiment as far as automobiles are concerned, said auto experts.

As per the Federation of Automobile Dealers Association (FADA), a national-level umbrella body of automobile retail dealerships, neighbouring Himachal Pradesh logged 10.33 per cent growth in automobile sales, while Punjab recorded 0.24 per cent degrowth in automobile sales during April 2025 as compared to the same month last year. Delhi recorded 1.61 per cent growth while Uttar Pradesh logged 7.19 per cent growth in retail automobile sales during April.

In terms of category-wise sales of vehicles, J&K recorded a 0.12  per cent decline in retail sales of passenger vehicles in April. Sales of commercial vehicles during the same period this year have seen a decrease of 5.84 per cent. However, this in a way is an improvement compared to the 22.45 per cent dip seen in commercial vehicle sales during January in J&K earlier this year.

Although overall commercial vehicle sales in J&K have disappointed, the sales trajectory in three-wheeler has seen a sharp year-on-year increase of 18.24 per cent in April.

However, as per FADA data, the second sharpest spike in sales has been witnessed in retail sales of tractors, which registered a year-on-year growth of 14.19  per cent in J&K. Interestingly, the two-wheeler segment, which had been a front-runner in automobile sales during the last one decade, on the back of hot-selling segment of gearless scooters, which had gone into the red during the winter period, has now witnessed a recovery in sales during April. The two-wheeler retail data released by FADA suggests a year-on-year growth of 1.13 per cent in April sales in J&K. This segment had seen a year-on-year dip in sales by 0.03 per cent in January 2025.