Car demand crawls in rich south states amid IT slowdown

A slowdown in the country's information technology industry and startup economy has hit car sales in four key south Indian states, which together account for about 20% of the country's passenger vehicle market.

- Ayaan Kartik

NEW DELHI:

Four of the five south Indian states—Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana—reported a 2.5%, 1.5% and 10.9% (AP+Telangana) decline in passenger vehicle sales, respectively, in FY25. Kerala, which accounts for 5% of total car sales in India, saw marginal 2% growth in PV sales in FY25, against 6.3% growth in FY24.

Demand for passenger vehicles has declined year-on-year in the southern states for the past four quarters.