page_title: Automotive industry by country
section_title: India
hierarchical_section_title: Automotive industry by country / Asia / India
caption_attribution_description: TATA Safari Dicor 2.2
context_page_description: The United States was the world's largest automobile producer by volume from the early years of the 20th century until the 1980s, when it was overtaken by Japan. In 2009, China became the world's largest vehicle producer.
context_section_description: An embryonic automotive industry started in India in the 1940s. However, for the next 50 years, the growth of the industry was hobbled by the Socialist policies and the bureaucratic hurdles of the license raj with total restrictions for import of vehicles. Following economic liberalisation in India in  1991 and start of Economic Boom, and the gradual easing of restrictions on industry, India has seen a dynamic 17% annual growth in automobile production and 30% annual growth in exports of automotive components and automobiles. More than 4.78 million automotive vehicles were produced in India in 2017 (an increase of almost thrice since 2005 and more than thirteen times since 1990. India  is now the fourth largest automobile producer as of 2018 (beating old and new auto makers such as Germany, South Korea, Belgium, United Kingdom, Italy, Canada, Mexico, Russia, Spain and France) and is the second fastest growing automobile market (after China) in the World. Total turnover of the Indian automobile industry  grew 3.6 times from $34 Billion in 2006 to $122 Billion in 2016.
  The largest automotive companies in India are Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India Limited, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors (In 2008, it launched Tata Nano, the cheapest car in the world at $1,500). Foreign auto companies with plants in India include, Ford, Hyundai, Honda, Kia, Nissan Motors, Toyota, Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, BMW, Renault, Mitsubishi, Jaguar Land Rover, Fiat, Volvo, Lexus and Mercedes Benz. Many other global automobile giants such as PSA Peugeot Citroën are  setting up their plants and Infiniti are also in the process of setting up their manufacturing plants in this country.
caption: Tata Safari (1998; India's first sports utility vehicle)
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