India EV Sales Surge as West Asia Conflict Ups Fuel Price Fears: Report

Indian car buyers are turning to electric vehicles (EV) at a growing rate, driven by anxiety over fuel costs and supply uncertainty stemming from the US-Israel-Iran conflict, according to the country's top EV manufacturers, ETPrime has reported. Data from the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), drawn from the government's Vahan portal, shows EVs accounted for 5.1 per cent of new car sales last month, up from 3.5 per cent in February.

Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles managing director Shailesh Chandra said the regional crisis was directly feeding into buying decisions. 

"Customers are thinking fuel availability and prices can become an issue," Chandra was quoted as saying in the report, attributing 20–30 per cent of the company's incremental EV demand last month to customer anxiety over the West Asia crisis.

Anurag Mehrotra, managing director of JSW MG Motor India, was quoted as saying the shift was plain to see on showroom floors. 

"Over the last couple of months, we have seen more customers entering showrooms with electric vehicles as their first consideration, and many fence-sitters are now moving decisively towards electrified products as they look for predictable running costs and insulation from fuel price fluctuations," Mehrotra said. JSW MG recorded a 26 per cent rise in customer interest in March compared with the January-February average.

Even the anticipation of higher petrol and diesel prices is nudging buyers towards EVs, which are increasingly viewed as a more economical and stable alternative, backed by a wider choice of models and growing appetite for cleaner transport.

Industry executives said that whilst India has not yet raised fuel prices at the pump, oil marketing companies are now absorbing significant losses -- reportedly around ₹13.50 per litre on diesel and ₹1 per litre on petrol -- with many consumers bracing for a hike once ongoing state elections conclude.

Electric car sales in India surged 82% year on year in March to more than 24,000 units, taking total sales for the fiscal year ending that month to over 233,000 vehicles.

The consumer shift is unfolding against a backdrop of severe disruption to global energy markets. The cost of India's crude oil basket has risen around 133% compared with January levels, though retail petrol and diesel prices have so far remained largely unchanged. The conflict has heavily disrupted oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that handles roughly a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas.

For India, which imports the vast majority of its crude oil, the vulnerability is acute and the current turmoil in global oil markets is exposing the fragility of the country's petroleum security.