EV Sales Increase 93.5% Yearly: Maharashtra Leads

India registered 35,867 four-wheeler EVs in September 2026, according to Vahan Dashboard data, up 93.5% year-on-year and 10.9% over August. The cumulative Jan-Sep 2026 tally now stands at 256,017 units, comfortably past the 2.5 lakh mark. Maharashtra led both the month and the year to date.

Top 5 States

Maharashtra topped the September charts with 5,293 units, a 14.76% share of the national total. Telangana followed with 3,335 (9.30%), Tamil Nadu with 3,037 (8.47%), Kerala with 2,746 (7.66%), and Gujarat with 2,580 (7.19%). Tata, which sold 14,728 units nationally in September, was the leading brand in all five, though its grip varied sharply by market. In Maharashtra it held 38.3% of EV registrations. In Telangana, 37.5%. In Tamil Nadu, 42.8%. In Gujarat, 34.4%. Kerala was its strongest of the five, at 63.2%.

The year-to-date picture shuffles this order. For Jan-Sep 2026, Maharashtra still leads with 36,504 units, a 14.26% share of the national total. Telangana is second with 24,972 (9.75%). Delhi sits third at 23,837 (9.31%). Karnataka is fourth with 22,999 (8.98%), ahead of Tamil Nadu's 21,025 (8.21%), with Kerala close behind in sixth. Karnataka's YTD rank of fourth, despite falling to eighth in September alone, points to a state cooling off through the year rather than one that was ever actually behind on cumulative volume.

Delhi's Inflated Number

On paper, Delhi's 3,888 units in September would make it the country's second-largest EV market for the month, behind only Maharashtra. That number doesn't hold up once we dive deep into the data.

VinFast leads Delhi registrations in September with 2,046 units but 1,992 units were the company registered to its own Green SM fleet business, not a demand by retail buyers or third party cab service providers. VinFast's actual retail footprint in the city was just 54 cars.

Removing those fleet registrations out and Delhi's genuine-demand total falls to 1,896 units, which would only place it around eighth nationally, behind Uttar Pradesh. On that adjusted number, Mahindra is actually the city's top-selling brand, with 556 units, a 29.3% share. Tata is close behind with 539, or 28.4%. VinFast's real retail share of the city, once the fleet units are set aside, is under 3%.

All Roads Lead to Maharashtra

Maharashtra wasn't just the top state overall. It was also the single best-performing state for every major OEM individually. Excluding VinFast, whose Delhi number is distorted by fleet sales, the top five brands by volume, Tata, Mahindra, JSW MG Motor, Kia and Maruti Suzuki, all drew more national sales from Maharashtra than from any other state. Mahindra relied on it most heavily, with 17.9% of its total national volume coming from the state, followed by MG at 14.9%, Tata at 13.8%, Kia at 12.6% and Maruti Suzuki at 12.2%.

Tata Leads OEMs

Tata led 26 of India's 36 states and union territories outright in September. Once Delhi's fleet-inflated VinFast number is corrected and reassigned to Mahindra, Mahindra's own count of states led rises to 6, picking up Delhi alongside its usual small-UT wins. JSW MG Motor led just one, Meghalaya, where the entire EV market was 3 units. Three union territories, Sikkim, Ladakh and Lakshadweep, recorded zero EV registrations in September.

Tata's own top three markets by volume were Maharashtra, Kerala and Rajasthan. Maharashtra accounted for 13.77% of Tata's national EV sales, Kerala for 11.78%, and Rajasthan for 10.15%.

States to Watch: Haryana vs Karnataka

Haryana and Karnataka are moving in opposite directions, and the lever in both cases is the same: state tax policy. Haryana's EV tax waiver has driven a sharp climb. The state sold just 266 units up to July, then 725 in August, and 1,486 in September, nearly doubling month-on-month twice in a row.

Karnataka has moved the other way. The state was selling over 3,000 units a month before its road tax changes took effect, and fell to 2,334 in September.