India Connected Car Market Size & Share Analysis - Growth Trends And Forecast (2025 - 2030)

India Connected Car Market Trends and Insights

Rapid Smartphone and 4G/5G Penetration

India’s 5G user base touched 365 million as of July 2025, creating a ready canvas for vehicle-smartphone fusion that steers the India connected car market toward mass adoption ^{[1]“BSNL 4G Expansion Note,” Department of Telecommunications, dot.gov.in}. Majority of shoppers now cite connected features as pivotal when selecting a new vehicle, and OEMs respond by equipping even compact SUVs with integrated eSIMs and mobile apps. Kia’s 2024 launch of the Syros model bundled an Airtel eSIM, letting owners access live traffic, geo-fencing, and theft alerts. The India connected car market also benefits because cloud transactions ride on existing telco billing rails, keeping subscription costs near mobile-data parity. As consumer expectations migrate from phones to dashboards, infotainment and safety applications move from nice-to-have to deal-breakers, accelerating standard-fit connectivity across model lines.

Government’s AIS-140 and AV-NEXT Mandates

AIS-140 demands tracking and emergency buttons on commercial vehicles, while the AV-NEXT draft roadmap insists on NavIC integration in passenger cars, making compliance the main door-opener to the India connected car market. Bharat NCAP 2.0 scoring further elevates connected safety by awarding additional stars for telematics-enabled e-call and crash notification. The predictable demand curve allows Tier-1 suppliers to scale ECUs locally, which trims unit costs and increases domestic value addition. Over time, mandatory compliance morphs into a competitive differentiator as brands that exceed the bare minimum tout higher safety scores.

OEM–Telco Revenue-Share Models

Kia and Airtel, Honda and Jio, and Maruti Suzuki with MapMyIndia illustrate revenue-share models that distribute data costs over an entire vehicle lifecycle, reducing sticker shock. Telcos gain incremental ARPU, while OEMs turn connected features into subscription bundles ranging from entry-level roadside assist to premium concierge. Such models help the India connected car market escape the low-margin hardware trap by monetizing services like predictive maintenance and location-based coupons. Because billing, SIM management, and cyber-security already reside inside telco networks, automotive partners can plug into mature platforms instead of building from scratch.

Rising Disposable Income and Aspirational Spend

Urban households climbed significantly in 2024, and many allocate savings to in-car tech that mirrors smartphone convenience. Compact SUVs such as Hyundai’s Creta EV bundle connected features as standard, making them aspirational rather than luxury. Younger buyers gravitate to cars they can control through voice assistants, and this preference radiates into tier-2 cities as incomes rise. For fleet owners, telematics reduces fuel and maintenance, offsetting upfront costs. Consequently, the India connected car market sees higher penetration in high-growth body styles like crossovers where tech acts as a lifestyle badge.

Data-breach and Cyber-attack Concerns

Ransomware attacks on global infotainment systems raised red flags among Indian buyers who now hesitate to share driving data. While startups like SecureThings offer anomaly-detection software, uptake stays uneven because no India-specific regulation mirrors the EU WP.29 cyber-security clause. Without mandatory standards, small OEMs treat cyber spend as optional, opening gaps that erode trust. High-profile hacks would slow the India connected car market if consumers begin disabling SIM modules or refuse consent for data collection.

Patchy LTE Coverage on Rural Corridors

National highways linking mineral belts in Jharkhand or tourist routes in the Northeast suffer blind spots, forcing connected trucks to fall back on SMS beaconing. The BSNL 4G expansion, slated to finish in 2026, will plug holes, yet interim downtime dilutes fleet analytics benefits ^{[2]“India Crosses 365 Million 5G Users,” The Economic Times, economictimes.indiatimes.com}. OEMs must add dual-profile modems and store-and-forward logic, which raises BOM cost and tempers growth in value-conscious segments.

Segment Analysis

By Application Type: Navigation Leads While OTA Updates Accelerate

Navigation accounted for 27.55% of the India connected car market share in 2024 as clogged city grids and mixed-quality road signs made live rerouting vital. Local mapping partners like MapMyIndia curate pothole alerts and fuel-station data that resonate with daily commuters. In contrast, over-the-air updates log a 27.13% CAGR to 2030 as OEMs realize a single remote fix avoids thousands of service-bay visits. The India connected car market size for OTA upgrades is projected to rise significantly by 2030, a gain that highlights software’s growing share of vehicle value. Remote diagnostics and multimedia streaming follow, fueled by telco bundling of in-car data plans with family mobiles. Emergency e-call adoption ticks upward under Bharat NCAP 2.0, reinforcing safety as a selling theme.

The second wave of application adoption centers on personalization. Cabin climate presets sync through cloud profiles while voice assistants learn local dialects. Such evolutions will further cement the India connected car market as a software arena in which continuous delivery outranks model-year refresh cycles.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Connectivity Type: Embedded Solutions Dominate Despite Cost Pressures

Embedded eSIM modules shipped in 47.04% of new connected vehicles during 2024 because OEMs want lifecycle control over diagnostics, firmware, and data routing. Integrated connectivity, which piggybacks on smartphone data, grows quickest at 25.84% CAGR as supply-chain costs lift and consumers push back against rising MSRPs. The hybrid approach often lands in mid-trim variants where buyers bring their own data but the car retains a low-bandwidth fallback eSIM for critical safety traffic.

Tethered systems remain niche in penetration, used mainly by aftermarket dongles. Yet the low hardware bill keeps them alive for fleet retrofits. Over the forecast horizon, the India connected car industry will likely settle on a dual-core strategy: embedded for high-value or regulatory-heavy use cases, integrated for budget lines.

By Communication Model: V2I Infrastructure Drives Current Adoption

Vehicle-to-Infrastructure held 53.16% share in 2024, helped by municipal investments in adaptive traffic lights and toll-plaza digitization. For example, Bengaluru’s command center shares signal phase data with company fleets to minimize idle time. V2I’s share is predicted to slip modestly as Vehicle-to-Cloud usage will climb to 26.74% CAGR by 2030 on the back of cheaper storage and analytics. The India connected car market size tied to V2C services is expected to grow, thus reflecting analytics and content streaming demand.

V2V and V2P remain limited to pilot corridors such as the Delhi-Jaipur expressway. Adoption awaits spectrum allocation clarity around the 5.9 GHz band and roadside unit funding. Nevertheless, once critical mass builds, peer-to-peer alerts for blind-spot hazard and pedestrian proximity could unlock another growth inflection.

By Vehicle Type: Passenger Cars Lead While Commercial Segments Accelerate

Passenger cars contributed 82.33% revenue in 2024, fueled by high sales volumes and intense feature wars among brands. Compact SUVs dominate because tech-savvy buyers equate connected dashboards with non-negotiable value. Light commercial vehicles post the fastest 25.65% CAGR as last-mile operators chase dispatch efficiency. Heavy trucks adopt connectivity for fuel coaching, but the addressable fleet renews slower, tempering volume.

As EV sales rise, both passenger and LCV segments lean more on connectivity to manage battery health and charging route planning. Fleet owners, meanwhile, plan to exploit ADAS-driven insurance rebates, pushing adoption deeper into agrarian and mining haul routes where downtime wreaks high opportunity costs.

Note: Segment shares of all individual segments available upon report purchase

By Sales Channel: OEM Integration Dominates Despite After-Market Growth

OEM factory fitment commanded 87.21% of 2024 shipments since warranty assurance and AIS-140 compliance encourage buyers to pick built-in kits. This route captures almost the entire subsidy from production-linked incentive schemes that reward local module sourcing. After-market sales, however, clock a brisk 26.48% CAGR as millions of pre-2020 cars seek retrofit security and navigation. Chipset maker Quectel and integrators like Embitel target this long-tail via plug-and-play boxes. For insurers, retrofits create new data streams without waiting a decade for the fleet to turn over.

The dual-channel ecosystem means the India connected car market balances premium factory systems with affordable add-ons, expanding the total reachable customer base.

Geography Analysis

Metropolitan clusters such as Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad account for a notable share of current connected car activations. These zones enjoy near-continuous 5G coverage, dense dealer networks, and consumers comfortable with app payments. Pune, home to multiple OEM R&D centers, doubles as a sandbox for early OTA rollouts. In West India, high per-capita income intersects with bumper-to-bumper traffic, which heightens the perceived utility of navigation and e-call.

Tier-2 cities like Indore, Coimbatore, and Lucknow form the next vanguard. As fiber backhaul extends and average incomes climb, OEMs launch mid-spec connected trims tailored to these buyers. Yet patchy LTE on peri-urban ring roads forces fallback modes and raises support costs. Government Digital India projects earmark rural BTS upgrades, but completion staggered to 2026 leaves a short-term reliability gap.

Long-haul freight corridors from Mumbai to Chennai or Delhi to Kolkata expose another dimension. Fleet managers demand minute-by-minute tracking to comply with e-way bill norms, though coverage black holes on the Odisha plateau or Jharkhand forests dilute value. Pilot satellite-cellular hybrid modems aim to plug these gaps. The India connected car industry thus adapts products to a mosaic of connectivity profiles, from ultradense metro grids to sporadic rural nodes.