[saikarthik]

Definitely this kind of statistics help the manufacturers and other third party service industries to plan their strategies and also the government to plan the infrastructure better (hope they do, before the data evolves).

But, it's difficult to understand the 'why' part. What I mean is understanding of why the distribution looks like this state wise, what are the different factors? It would be interesting to discuss on this topic, if we can get the why part as well. I took a look at the state GDP (GSDP, GSDP per capita) and income inequality reports and only for a couple of states they fit to the ownership of disposable income, for many states it doesn't. Makes me wonder if it has to do anything with the 'mindset', public transportation and the work available in the state.

Couple of observations:

- Tamil Nadu, despite having higher GSDP, still has less car owners. And the road infra is better too.
- Andhra and Telangana, after split shows vast difference in many stats than when they were one.
- North-East, despite having low GSDP have decent to high car ownerships.
- In some states like J&K where tourism is main business, the cars may be private tour operators than reflecting private use.
- Northern states have high ownership than that of southern states.

GSDP per capita:

Source: https://statisticstimes.com/economy/india

[Gsynch]

Originally Posted by binand

Btw - the image (even the one tweeted by Anand Mahindra) has its attribution masked which doesn't sound right to me.

The image mentions that the source is National Family Health Survey (2019-21).

And thanks for the explanation on bus & KeSRTC situation, makes sense.

[binand]

Originally Posted by Gsynch

The image mentions that the source is National Family Health Survey (2019-21).

That is the source of the underlying data. The choropleth is made by someone whose name is masked out; I can barely read the second word ("Brains") in the top right corner.

[IshaanIan]

Interesting statistics on car ownership in Goa is this because many privately owned vehicles are rented out illegally?

[ValarMorghulis]

I know this is an anathema to be said on Team-BHP, but I’d rather prefer if the car ownership only decreased in future with public transportation increasing.
Similarly green should be for low car ownership in the original map.

No point wishing everyone should own a car. I’d much rather have empty roads than choked ones.

[vj_torqueaddict]

Analysing stats without diving deeper into the factors can be misleading. The above percentages are not clear to me. How many households are we talking about here? What was the sampling rate? My bad if I missed them.

As no of household is a denominator here, it's inversely proportional. That is, higher the no of household the lesser the percentage, which I think is what we are seeing here.

Do we have data on month on month sales for respective states for last few years? Will that also paint a similar picture?

[fhdowntheline]

Originally Posted by vj_torqueaddict

Do we have data on month on month sales for respective states for last few years? Will that also paint a similar picture?

Because this is about car ownership, 1)There may not be a purchase but continued ownership over a period of time,
2) You cannot ignore the used car market if you are looking at sales. Not sure whether this data is formally captured like new cars.

[Hayek]

Suspect this reflect cultural differences towards spending and car ownership rather than anything else. There obviously is a correlation between urbanisation and car ownership - more urban states like Dehi, Goa, Kerala (which could be seen as a single overgrown urban area) should have higher car ownership. But that is not borne out by data from Tamil Nadu (the second most urban state after Kerala) or Maharashtra. No correlation with per capita income either, TN and Gujarat have similar PCI but vastly different car ownership levels, and poorer Northern states still
have high ownership. So it boils down to keeping up with the Khannas - high car ownership triggers higher car ownership. In MH or South India (other than Kerala), your neighbour is less likely to own a car, and so it stays that way.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by Hayek

Suspect this reflect cultural differences towards spending and car ownership rather than anything else. There obviously is a correlation between .

It is also about relative distances, accessibility, more efficient public transportation and parking space etc.
There are many parameters and it will be difficult to list them all here. But a more detailed research effort into the ‘why’, would help.

[epiccross]

Kerala doesn't have great highways because of its geography and population density. Hopefully, the six-lane highway project should improve things quite a bit on that front. Still, the national highway near the tier 3 town I live has speed limits of like even 30 because a lot of it curves along the hill. It should improve with six-lane highway, but still is a disadvantage.

But the road connectivity is excellent. I live in one of the less densely populated places and even the remote village roads are very good. The difference is stark every time I travel somewhere like Bangalore.

Currently, it makes sense to own cars for a lot of people for inter-intra city transport specifically. Plus as mentioned above, the population is scattered across the state, so there are all sorts of terrains where having car would be advantageous.

[binand]

Originally Posted by vj_torqueaddict

The above percentages are not clear to me. How many households are we talking about here? What was the sampling rate?

It is wrongly labelled - shouldn't be "Statewise car ownership per household", but instead "Statewise households owning cars" (I think the pioneer in this area, @india.in.pixels, has labelled theirs correctly). It is basically data on the number of households that reported they own a car, on a per-state basis.

This data is part of the NFHS (national family health survey) conducted by union government once every 5+ years. It is fairly extensive in terms of coverage and parameters queried and I expect provide key inputs into policy initiatives both at union and state levels.

The entire data, methods used, statistical analysis etc. all are available on their website.

In Kerala, I estimate there are about 80L-90L households. A bit more than 12000 households were interviewed for the survey.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Hayek

But that is not borne out by data from Tamil Nadu (the second most urban state after Kerala) or Maharashtra. No correlation with per capita income either, TN and Gujarat have similar PCI but vastly different car ownership levels, ...In MH or South India (other than Kerala), your neighbour is less likely to own a car, and so it stays that way.

Cross posting my reply from the other thread.

Originally Posted by DicKy

Reminds me of the joke, " You could see a guy wearing the latest dress and riding a KTM motorcycle to work at a construction site in Kerala with maybe thousands in his bank account, but the bare chested, lungi clad TVS 50 riding guy across the border may have a fleet of trucks and acres of agricultural land with a few crores in his bank"....When I think about it. It is true. My relatives in Tamilnadu could have crores in their account, but would use public transport or hire a taxi atmost. My cousin almost bought an E class(childhood dream), but then the street he lives in is narrow and their car porch can barely take in a sub 4m car. Also most of TN settlement is urban in nature. Built-up areas. Don't know why, but for all the open lands and space Tamilnadu has (from a Keralite's POV), their residential areas tend to be cramped. Even the newer ones.

I just can't fathom how cramped the residential areas in many areas of Tamil nadu is. Can understand if it is old highly urbanised areas, but even new settlements outside tier-2/3 towns made in the last 5-10 years are designed such. There could be vacant land all around the residential area, even then the streets within would be narrow and the houses themselves would fill out the individual compounds leaving out parking space for 3-4 two wheelers at best. And this would be in areas where the price of one acre of land would be equal to the price of one cent of land in Kerala. So it is also not the economic value of the land. Cultural differences.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Hayek

In MH or South India (other than Kerala), your neighbour is less likely to own a car, and so it stays that way.

Also, lack of safety aside, a 2-wheeler is just so much better than a car in crowded cities like Mumbai. Quicker travel, easy parking, high FE, cheap running costs.

I know many people who keep a car parked on weekdays and just use their scooter / bike. A close cousin & his wife insist on using their Activa for nearby commuting, when they have 3 cars in the garage!

My comment on the infographic = I sure hope the percentages go down! Our roads are too choked already.

[Axe77]

Originally Posted by GTO

A close cousin & his wife insist on using their Activa for nearby commuting, when they have 3 cars in the garage!

Haha - I can relate to this. We have three cars in our garage and yet keep a scooter. The scooter is Jan 2021, its literally just crossed 1000 kms last month, after 21 / 22 months ownership (that’s barely 45 kms per month averaged out). Yet, it remains invaluable for our short trips, within a 2 km radius. Can’t imagine letting it go just because of its low usage.

Many families genuinely love their two wheelers for this reason even in crowded cities and are just happy using public transport or a cab when they have the need.

[Gsynch]

Originally Posted by Hayek

No correlation with per capita income either
So it boils down to keeping up with the Khannas - high car ownership triggers higher car ownership. In MH or South India (other than Kerala), your neighbor is less likely to own a car, and so it stays that way.

The most plausible explanation to this otherwise intriguing survey. No single data correlation for car ownership such as literacy rate, per capita income level, or geographic character. GDP per capita is perhaps the best fit.

Kerala's poorest district Malappuram has a per capita income of 1.6L, while Bihar's richest district Patna is 1.3L

Bihar's richest district is poorer than Kerala's poorest, with Kerala 5x richer per person

India is a continent of different economies masquerading as states.