Honda’s scooter share has fallen from nearly 57% in FY2017 to 39% in FY2026, while TVS has almost doubled its presence to over 28%
India’s scooter market is undergoing a significant competitive realignment. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India continues to dominate the segment, backed by the enduring popularity of the Activa and Dio. However, its once-commanding lead over TVS Motor Company has narrowed substantially over the past decade.
Data from the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers shows that Honda’s scooter market share declined from 56.89% in FY2017 to 38.95% in FY2026. Over the same period, TVS increased its share from 14.74% to 28.36%.
The transformation is particularly striking because Honda’s annual scooter volumes have remained almost unchanged over the decade, while the overall market and TVS volumes have expanded considerably.
Honda remains India’s largest scooter manufacturer, but TVS has steadily narrowed the sales and market-share gap.
India’s Scooter Market Reaches a Record High
Domestic scooter wholesales increased from around 56.05 lakh units in FY2017 to a record 81.18 lakh units in FY2026. This represents growth of nearly 45% over nine years.
Honda sold approximately 31.89 lakh scooters in FY2017. Its FY2026 wholesales stood at around 31.62 lakh units—slightly lower than the level recorded nine years earlier.
TVS, meanwhile, expanded from 8.26 lakh scooters in FY2017 to 23.03 lakh units in FY2026. This translates into growth of approximately 179%, meaning the company’s scooter business has nearly tripled during the period.
India Scooter Market: Honda vs TVS
Fiscal year
Total scooter sales
Honda sales
TVS sales
Honda share
TVS share
FY2017
56,04,673
31,89,012
8,26,291
56.89%
14.74%
FY2020
55,66,036
31,47,919
10,18,288
56.55%
18.29%
FY2023
51,90,702
24,18,959
12,45,993
46.60%
24.00%
FY2024
58,39,325
25,30,667
14,51,409
43.33%
24.85%
FY2025
68,53,214
28,44,402
18,13,103
41.50%
26.45%
FY2026
81,17,945
31,62,067
23,02,701
38.95%
28.36%
FY2027*
14,34,538
5,02,190
4,07,842
35.00%
28.43%
FY2027 figures cover April-May 2026 and should not be compared directly with full-year volumes. Data: SIAM.
Honda’s Absolute Volumes Have Stagnated
The most important insight is not merely Honda’s declining market share. It is the contrast between the expansion of the overall scooter segment and the lack of comparable growth in Honda’s volumes.
Honda’s scooter sales in FY2026 were around 27,000 units lower than in FY2017, despite the total market adding more than 25 lakh units during this period.
As a result, Honda’s share dropped by almost 18 percentage points.
The company maintained a market share of more than 55% until FY2020. Its share slipped to 51.95% during the pandemic-affected FY2021 and fell below 50% in FY2022. It subsequently declined to 46.60% in FY2023, 43.33% in FY2024, 41.50% in FY2025 and 38.95% in FY2026.
Honda nevertheless remains the clear scooter market leader. In FY2026, the Activa family accounted for approximately 28.45 lakh units, while the Dio contributed nearly 3.14 lakh units. Honda’s newly introduced Activa e: and QC1 electric scooters made only a limited contribution during their initial period in the market.
TVS Has Built Growth Across Petrol and Electric Scooters
TVS has followed a more diversified growth strategy.
The Jupiter has emerged as its core mass-market scooter, while the NTorq has helped the company establish a strong position among younger and more performance-oriented buyers. The iQube has simultaneously provided TVS with a significant presence in the rapidly expanding electric two-wheeler market.
TVS scooter wholesales rose by approximately 4.90 lakh units in FY2026 alone, increasing from 18.13 lakh units in FY2025 to 23.03 lakh units.
Its petrol-powered scooter sales reached around 19.35 lakh units during FY2026, representing approximately 26% year-on-year growth. Electric scooter wholesales increased by 35% to 3,67,501 units.
This indicates that TVS is not gaining share solely because of electric vehicles. Its internal-combustion portfolio is also expanding rapidly.
EVs Are Becoming a Major Competitive Advantage for TVS
Electric scooters have become an increasingly important part of TVS Motor’s product mix. The company sold only 62 electric scooters in FY2020. Its annual EV wholesales subsequently rose to:
-
1,061 units in FY2021
-
10,773 units in FY2022
-
96,654 units in FY2023
-
1,89,896 units in FY2024
-
2,73,063 units in FY2025
-
3,67,501 units in FY2026
Consequently, electric models increased their contribution to TVS scooter sales from virtually zero in FY2020 to 15.95% in FY2026.
During April-May 2026, TVS sold 79,385 electric scooters out of total scooter wholesales of 4,07,842 units. This gave EVs a contribution of 19.46%—effectively meaning that nearly one out of every five TVS scooters dispatched during the period was electric.
TVS has cumulatively crossed the one-million-unit mark for its electric scooters, led by the iQube and the newer Orbiter. It also emerged as India’s largest electric two-wheeler manufacturer by retail market share in FY2026.
Honda entered the electric scooter segment much later. Its battery-swapping Activa e: and fixed-battery QC1 are important additions, but their current volumes remain modest compared with the scale achieved by TVS.
The Honda-TVS Sales Gap Has Contracted by Nearly Two-Thirds
In FY2017, Honda sold approximately 23.63 lakh more scooters than TVS. By FY2026, the difference had declined to 8.59 lakh units.
That represents a contraction of almost 64% in the annual sales gap.
Fiscal year
Honda’s lead over TVS
FY2017
23,62,721
FY2020
21,29,631
FY2022
11,19,900
FY2024
10,79,258
FY2025
10,31,299
FY2026
8,59,366
FY2027*
94,348
The April-May 2026 data makes the contest appear even closer. Honda sold 5,02,190 scooters against TVS Motor’s 4,07,842 units, leaving a gap of only 94,348 units during the first two months of FY2027.
Honda still maintained a meaningful lead, but its share declined to 35%, while TVS held 28.43%. Honda’s April-May volumes grew by around 16% year on year, whereas TVS recorded growth of approximately 27%.
It is too early to extrapolate these two-month figures across the full financial year. They nevertheless reinforce the broader trend of TVS growing faster than the market leader.
What Has Changed in the Competitive Landscape?
Honda’s historical advantage came from creating and dominating India’s modern automatic-scooter market. The Activa became a household name, supported by a strong dealer network, reliability, high resale value and broad appeal across age groups.
However, the market has evolved.
Customers now have more differentiated options, including sportier scooters, connected features, larger-displacement models and electric powertrains. TVS has addressed these emerging sub-segments effectively through products such as the Jupiter, NTorq and iQube.
TVS also entered the mainstream electric scooter market years before Honda. That early presence gave the company time to develop its product, distribution network, charging ecosystem and consumer awareness while the EV segment was expanding.
Honda continues to depend overwhelmingly on the Activa and Dio. These products remain extremely successful, but a narrower product and powertrain mix may have limited the company’s ability to capture the incremental growth generated by newer scooter categories.
Can TVS Challenge Honda for the Top Position?
Honda and TVS together controlled approximately 67% of India’s scooter market in FY2026, underlining the scale of their combined dominance.
Honda is unlikely to lose its leadership immediately. Its FY2026 scooter sales were still around 8.6 lakh units higher than TVS, while the Activa remains one of India’s strongest two-wheeler brands.
However, the direction of movement is unmistakable.
Honda’s scooter share has declined in each financial year since FY2021, while TVS has recorded consistent gains. The key question is whether Honda can scale up its electric scooter business and generate new growth beyond the Activa franchise.
TVS, on the other hand, needs to sustain growth across both petrol and electric products. Its ability to expand production, distribution and service support for EVs will become increasingly important as electric scooters account for a larger part of its sales.
The narrowing Honda-TVS gap represents more than a temporary change in market share. It reflects a structural shift in India’s scooter industry.
Honda continues to lead because of the unmatched scale and brand equity of the Activa. But maintaining leadership is different from expanding it. Over the past decade, Honda has largely protected its volumes while surrendering a sizeable portion of the growing market.
TVS has captured that opportunity by building a broader scooter portfolio and moving early into electric mobility. Its growth has come from a combination of the Jupiter’s mass-market acceptance, the NTorq’s differentiated positioning and the iQube’s increasing EV scale.
The next phase of the battle will therefore be fought across two fronts: conventional scooters, where Honda remains immensely strong, and electric scooters, where TVS currently enjoys a substantial head start.
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