Role of commercial vehicles in Indian economy
More than half of the freight movement across the country is via road, thereby making commercial vehicles a vital pillar for freight movement. Insufficient rail capacity, low efficiency, reliability, and flexibility of railways has also been an advantage for this sector. This segment is used not only for freight, but also for passenger transportation. State governments, one of the largest users of passenger carrier commercial vehicles, provided public transportation across various cities.Commercial vehicles in India are segmented by the gross vehicle weight. Primarily, the two categories are light commercial vehicles and medium and heavy commercial vehicles. The former, which has a gross vehicle weight of less than 7.5 metric tons, dominated this sector. Small commercial vehicles, boosted the growth of this segment. A rise in the e-commerce sector, rural consumption, an increase in last-mile connectivity, and a lower total cost of ownership value pillared the growth of this market. New infrastructure projects and fleet replacement were also among the reason for demand creation.
Major players
The leading players in the commercial vehicle segment across India were Tata Motors and Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, with the former leading the domestic market. Other players included Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors, SML Isuzu Limited, Force India, and Daimler India Commercial Vehicle Private Limited. The latter sold its vehicles under the brand name ‘BharatBenz’ and had a small market share.
