Improving freight availability, infrastructure-led demand and replacement buying are set to push India’s CV industry beyond its FY19 peak, with Tata Motors consolidating its leadership position.
29 Jan 2026 | 427 Views | By Ketan Thakkar and Shahkar Abidi
Tata Motors expects India’s commercial vehicle (CV) industry to surpass its pre-Covid peak in FY26, supported by rising freight availability, consumption growth and a revival in infrastructure activity, according to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Girish Wagh.
The Indian commercial vehicle market last crossed the one-million-unit mark in ...
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Tata Motors expects India’s commercial vehicle (CV) industry to surpass its pre-Covid peak in FY26, supported by rising freight availability, consumption growth and a revival in infrastructure activity, according to Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Girish Wagh.
The Indian commercial vehicle market last crossed the one-million-unit mark in FY19, with deliveries of 10,07,319 units. So far this fiscal year, the commercial vehicle market has grown 10%, with sales of 7.54 lakh units in the first nine months of FY26. Interestingly, on a calendar-year basis, the million-unit mark was breached in 2025, and demand momentum is likely to sustain, if not accelerate, with improvement in replacement buying.
“At the rate at which we are moving, industry volumes for the year are likely to cross the earlier FY19 peak in absolute numbers,” Wagh said, adding that demand momentum has remained strong across segments.
The recovery is being driven by a combination of higher freight generation post-GST reforms and a pickup in the execution of infrastructure projects across sectors such as cement, steel and mining, said the head of India’s largest commercial vehicle maker.
“Post the introduction of GST, we have seen an increase in consumption, which in turn has led to higher freight availability,” he said. “The restart of infrastructure projects has also contributed meaningfully to demand across multiple end-use sectors.”
Tata Motors also delivered a strong operational performance in Q3 FY26, with domestic CV volumes rising 18% year-on-year and overall CV wholesales growing 20%. The company gained 100 basis points of market share sequentially, ending the quarter at 35.5%, led by a sharp recovery in heavy commercial vehicles.
“Our focus on profitable growth, disciplined pricing and an optimised product portfolio has helped us deliver sustained margin improvement,” Wagh said.
Apart from strong volume performance, Tata Motors also delivered sustained improvement in its bottom line. This was backed by robust cash generation and capital efficiency, supported by higher volumes and tighter working capital management, as the company continues to invest selectively in new products, electrification and alternate fuel technologies.
“This is now the tenth consecutive quarter of double-digit EBITDA margins, with EBIT also crossing double digits,” he told media persons after the Q3 FY26 earnings announcement.
Looking ahead, Tata Motors believes demand conditions remain favourable into the fourth quarter and beyond.
“As long as GDP growth continues and freight movement expands in line with it, we see the CV cycle remaining structurally healthy,” he said. “We believe the industry is entering a more sustainable phase of growth compared to the past.”