Mumbai:
Move over mangoes – it’s the trucks that are truly ripening this season. The latest Shriram Mobility Bulletin reports a juicy rise in truck rentals across major Indian routes, driven by the delicious arrival of summer fruits, pre-monsoon stocking, and what analysts are calling a “kharif-season-induced horsepower revival.”
Thanks to a cocktail of seasonal surges and economic cheer, truck rentals on the Delhi–Kolkata–Delhi corridor spiked 1.9% MoM, while Bengaluru–Mumbai rose 1.6%, and the ever-busy Delhi–Mumbai saw a 1.3% uptick. Year-on-year figures were even zestier, with rentals on the Kolkata–Guwahati route climbing 16% and the Mumbai–Chennai corridor up by 10%—likely due to watermelons and logistics both rolling in hot.
Petrol and diesel consumption too mirrored this uptick in movement, with MoM rises of 10% and 4% respectively—proving that when the sun’s out, so are the trucks. FASTag toll plazas also saw more beeps than usual, registering a 5.7% increase in transactions and a 4.2% rise in value.
However, it wasn’t all sunshine and diesel fumes. Freight movement in Indo-Pak border states took a hit during Operation Sindoor, with blackouts briefly halting operations. Sales of motor cars nosedived in Jammu & Kashmir (down 21% MoM), Rajasthan (18%), and Gujarat (13%). Maxi cabs, perhaps too maxi for comfort during night ops, plummeted by 50% in J&K, 43% in Gujarat, and 20% in Rajasthan. The good news? A ceasefire has brought the gear back into drive.
Meanwhile, tractors – those unsung heroes of the harvest – had a moment. With the kharif season on the horizon, Commercial Tractor sales shot up by 21% MoM and Agricultural Tractors by 18%, as farmers geared up for sowing season with horsepower over haystack.
Elsewhere in the garage, passenger cars slipped by 17% MoM, goods carriers by 12%, and two-wheelers by 2%, following the time-tested Indian principle: why buy new wheels when it’s raining deals and actual rain?
But all was not lost—EVs kept the voltage high. Electric two-wheeler sales rose by 10% MoM, and their three-wheeled cousins zipped up by a shocking 27%. Clearly, India’s silent revolution now has a horn.
Shriram Finance’s MD & CEO, Y S Chakravarti, summed it up:
“Lower interest rates and relaxed taxes seem to have fattened wallets and sweetened spending habits. Operation Sindoor was a hiccup, not a halt. All eyes are now on June’s monsoon. If it arrives fashionably on time, expect more freight fireworks.”
April’s E-way bill generation may have dipped 4% MoM, but YoY growth remains robust—up 23–24%, which proves that India’s freight industry, like a good truck engine, might slow down momentarily but never stalls for long.
