Karandikars & Associates

Vehicles per thousand persons

The indicator Vehicles per thousand persons, also referred to as Motorisation Rate, is a key socio-economic indicator that indicates economic prosperity, personal mobility and transport infrastructure

In countries like India, differentiation between Total Vehicles and Passenger Cars assumes critical importance, as two-wheelers account for ~75% of total vehicle population in India, and quite often international comparison excludes them

The indicator Passenger Cars per thousand persons, has often depicted a "S Curve" pattern across various economies, starting with a low level, followed by a surge with rising incomes and eventual leveling-off or a saturation

India is clearly at a take-off stage in terms of Passenger Cars per thousand persons, at ~32 per thousand, with typical saturation levels being 550-600 in EU and ~850 in US

Table below captures (i) Population and various indicators related to India's Road Transport, namely (ii) Total Registered Vehicles, (iii) Registered Cars, (iv) Registered Buses, (v) Length of National Highways, (vi) Length of All Roads, and derived indicators, namely (vii) Total Vehicles per thousand person, (viii) Cars per thousand persons, (ix) Buses per thousand persons, (x) Total Vehicles per 100 Km of National Highways and (xi) Total Vehicles per 100 km Road length

The number of registered motor vehicles per 1000 persons has increased from 53 in 2000-01 to 262 in 2022, indicating an improvement in the accessibility of means of transportation for the public
(For 2000-01, the derivation is: vehicles in thousand = 54991 or 54.99 million / population in million = 1028.6 / hence vehicles per thousand persons = 54.99/1028.6*1000 = ~53)

Number of Cars per thousand persons have increased from 5.2 to 32.3

There has been a staggering increase in the number of motorized vehicles, but the expansion in the road network has not increased commensurately. While the motor vehicle population has grown from 55 million in 2001 to over 354 million in 2022, the road network has expanded from 3.3 million km in 2001 to over 6.3 million km in 2019. Consequently, the number of registered vehicles per km. of road has increased, adding to the road congestion. Data reveals that the number of registered motor vehicles per 100 Km of National Highways has increased from 95,244 in 2001 to 2,50,464 in 2022, an increase of more than 2.6 times

Likewise, number of registered motor vehicles per 100 Km of Road length has increased from 1,630 to 5,370, an increase of more than 3.29 times

View the trends graphically

International Comparison

(Source: Road Transport Year Book (2020-21 & 2021-22) / World Road Statistics-2022 of International Road Federation)

International comparison is based on the data provided by World Road Statistics-2022 of International Road Federation, analyzing the position of India viz-a-viz other countries in terms of total vehicles in use, category-wise composition and penetration levels per 1000 population for different types of vehicles

Total motor vehicles

Table below captures India's position in Total motor vehicles - these include passenger cars, buses and motor coaches, vans and lorries, but exclude motor cycles and mopeds

India ranks 6 th in the category of total vehicles in use with 54.2 million vehicles across 192 countries, while China tops the list with 272.08 million vehicles in use, followed by USA with 267.6 vehicles. Amongst the top 20 countries, India has the lowest vehicles penetration per thousand population

Passenger Cars

Table below captures India's position in Passenger cars – motor vehicle, other than motor cycle intended for carriage of passengers and designed to seat not more than 9 persons (including driver)

India ranks 8th in terms of total number of passenger cars in use across the 192 countries reported in the World Road Statistics-2022. However, the penetration rate of 28 passenger cars per thousand people, is far lower than countries such as Italy (668), Poland (663), United States (585), Germany (580), Spain(522), France (569), Canada (624) and Japan(494)

Distribution of Buses / Motor Coaches / Vans / Pick-ups / Tractors / Motor-Cycles

Table below captures India's position in the above segments

India ranks 3rd in terms of number of buses and motor coaches after Nigeria and China

As regards the number of Vans, Pick-ups, Lorries and Road Tractors, India ranks 5th position with 13.76 million vehicles

India ranks at No 1 position in terms of number of motorcycles with 221.2 million vehicles across the 192 countries reported in the World Road Statistics-2022

Notes:

Buses and Motor coaches - Passenger road motor vehicle designed to seat more than nine persons (including the driver). Included are mini-buses and mini-coaches designed to seat more than nine persons (including the driver)

Motor cycles- Two or three -wheeled road motor vehicle not exceeding 400kg (900lb) of unladen weight. All such vehicles with a cylinder capacity of 50cc or over are included, as are those under 50cc which do not meet the definition of moped

Moped - Two or three wheeled road motor vehicle which is fitted with an engine having a cylinder capacity of less than 50cc (3.05cu.in) and a maximum authorized design speed in accordance with national regulations