Why Indians Are Always Made to Think Small

Ever wonder why your sporty new bike feels like it's been built with a speed limiter and a guilt complex? Or why your so-called SUV looks like it's on a keto diet? It's not an accident.

- Rohit Paradkar

It's not even a cultural quirk. It's by design.Indians aren't just born into humble beginnings - we're taxed into staying there.

GST 2.0: Sin Tax, But Make It Two-Wheels

Let’s call out the current villain for bikers: GST 2.0, which came into effect on 22 September 2025. Bikes up to 350cc now pay 18% GST, down from 28%, while motorcycles over 350cc are taxed at 40%. Because wanting a slightly bigger engine in India is apparently the moral equivalent of lighting cigars with ₹2,000 notes.

Forget that these bikes are often safer, more efficient on highways, and crucial to India's export credibility. No, if it makes you smile or rev slightly louder, the system wants you to feel guilty about it — and pay accordingly.

The Sub-4m Rule: Shrinking Dreams Since 2008

Of course, this isn’t our first rodeo in engineering smallness. The infamous sub-4 metre rule for cars came in over a decade ago and was supposed to encourage compact, efficient vehicles.

What it did instead was birth a generation of awkwardly proportioned “SUVs” that look like someone left a full-sized car in the dryer.

It forced carmakers to design India-specific Franken-cars just to chase tax breaks. Maruti and Hyundai? Masters of the game. Ford, Volkswagen, Honda? Not so lucky. If you couldn’t retool your entire product strategy to build a stunted sedan or a micro SUV, you were out of the market before you could even say wheelbase.