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★ Lead Story

Sep 7 · 2 min read

Petrol lost its majority in India's car showrooms in August

On September 7, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations released its August retail numbers. For the first time, passenger vehicles running on alternative fuels, meaning CNG, hybrid and electric together, took a larger share of sales than petrol cars. Alternative fuels stood at 41.95% of passenger vehicle retail. Petrol stood at 40.85%.

The gap has closed fast. In August 2024, petrol led alternative fuels by 21.03 percentage points. In August 2025 the lead was 11.9 points. In August 2026 it was gone.

This did not happen in a weak month. Total vehicle retail across all categories reached 24,23,201 units, up 18% on the year and the best August on record, with passenger vehicles, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and commercial vehicles each setting an August high.

The timing matters. Petrol buyers are questioning E20, the 20% ethanol blend now standard at the pump, over mileage and engine wear. CNG, which most manufacturers now offer across their small-car ranges, has become the default hedge for a price-sensitive buyer who wants a lower running cost without betting on charging.

The structural read is that India's transition away from petrol is running through the gas pump before it runs through the plug. The question for carmakers is whether they price the next three years for a CNG-led mix or an EV-led one.

The share numbers come from FADA's dealer registration data, so they reflect what customers actually drove home in August, including festive pre-buying that started early this year. Electric registrations alone were softer in August, which means the alternative-fuel gain is carried mostly by CNG and hybrids rather than by battery cars. That is a different transition from the one India's EV policy was designed for.

For the carmakers, the mix shift changes the plant, not just the brochure. CNG variants carry a lower margin per unit than the petrol equivalent but keep the buyer inside the same dealer network and service economics. Maruti Suzuki, which sells the most CNG cars in the country, has just announced its third price increase since May, citing input costs. A buyer who has already switched fuels to save money will be sensitive to a sticker rise.

The caveat is that August is one month, and petrol's share can recover in months when CNG supply tightens or its price rises, as it did in Delhi last week when CNG crossed Rs 86 a kilogram. The direction, though, has held for three Augusts in a row.

Today's Top 5

5 stories

Udaan · Sep 7

Udaan is paying Rs 500 crore in shares for Swiggy's distribution arm

On September 7, Udaan, the business-to-business e-commerce company preparing for an IPO, said it will acquire Lynk Logistics, Swiggy's wholly owned retail distribution platform, for Rs 500 crore. No cash changes hands. Udaan's parent, Trustroot Internet, will issue preference shares to Swiggy, giving Swiggy about 2.8% of Udaan. Swiggy will also put in Rs 75 crore of fresh equity for a further 0.4%.

Lynk supplies branded goods to kirana stores. Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata generate about 75% of its revenue, which fits Udaan's cluster-led model of running one city at a time to profitability. Bengaluru, Udaan's biggest city, is already EBITDA-positive.

Udaan says revenue has grown at about 25% a year over the last ten quarters while its EBITDA burn has fallen by about 70%. Private labels now make up 15 to 25% of its staples sales. The deal follows a $160 million recapitalisation and the all-stock purchase of ShopKirana last year.

For Swiggy, the deal is a swap of an asset it did not want to keep building for a stake in a company that might list. Swiggy has been trimming non-core bets since its own IPO, and Lynk, which served general trade rather than Swiggy's own consumers, was the clearest candidate. Taking equity rather than cash keeps Swiggy exposed to the upside if Udaan's listing lands.

For the FMCG companies that sell through both, the consolidation means one fewer distributor on the shelf. Udaan's pitch to brands is that it can reach more kiranas with better fill rates than the traditional stockist. Its pitch to investors is that private labels and denser clusters can carry a margin that the first version of Udaan, which chased volume across dozens of cities, never had.

The risk is the one every B2B marketplace has faced in India: the kirana buys on credit and on relationships, and a platform that turns off subsidies loses orders quickly. The next ten quarters will show whether the cluster model survives the cost of an acquisition.

Ferrero Rocher · Sep 8

Ferrero wants to grow faster than India's chocolate market this festive season, and its tool is the cooler

On September 8, Ferrero India told Business Standard it is targeting double-digit growth this festive season, against a chocolate market that is growing at 7 to 8%. The plan rests on premium gifting packs and a wider retail footprint, built by placing more branded coolers in stores so the product survives an Indian September.

The cooler is the constraint in Indian chocolate. A premium bar that melts on a shelf is a return, not a sale, and every extra refrigerated unit in a general-trade store is a fixed cost that has to be earned back in gifting volume between now and Diwali.

Ferrero's bet is that the gifting buyer is trading up rather than trading down, even as sugar and other input costs have risen through the year. The question is whether the same buyer who upgraded the gift box last year will do it again at this year's prices.

The category context is that India's chocolate market has been one of the steadier lines in packaged food, with growth holding in the high single digits while biscuits and snacks slowed. Gifting is the part that carries premium pricing, and it is concentrated in a ten-week window. A brand that adds distribution before Diwali and holds it after is buying a permanent share gain with a seasonal spend.

The competitive read is that Mondelez's Cadbury owns the mass end and has been building its own premium gifting line, while Amul and a set of D2C chocolate brands are pushing from below on price and from above on craft. Ferrero's advantage is that its gold-wrapped ball is already the default corporate gift; its exposure is that it has few price points below the premium tier if the festive buyer turns cautious.

Nua · Sep 7

A period-care brand raised $50 million after growing five times in two years while staying profitable

On September 7, Nua, the Mumbai-based women's wellness brand, announced a $50 million Series C led by Peak XV Partners and Filter Capital, with Mirabilis Investment Trust and Footpath Ventures joining. The round mixes primary capital with a secondary sale that gives partial exits to Kae Capital, Lightbox and early angels. Nua has now raised about $71.5 million in total.

The number that matters is the run rate. Nua says annualised revenue went from Rs 100 crore to Rs 500 crore in 24 months, and that it stayed profitable through that growth. It reaches more than 3 million women a month across period care, maternity and intimate wellness, and Peak XV calls it the second-largest online player in the category.

This is the largest funding round in Indian women's hygiene, ahead of Pee Safe's $32 million in January. It lands in a category still led offline by Whisper, Stayfree and Sofy, where the shift to online has been slower than in skincare.

Founded in 2017 by Ravi Ramachandran, Nua built its base on subscription pads sold direct and has since added a period-tracker app and a chat service, which give it a reason to talk to the customer between purchases. In a category where the product is a repeat buy every month, retention is the whole model, and the app is how the brand keeps the subscription from lapsing when a cheaper pack is on the quick-commerce screen.

The capital will go to brand building, distribution and new products. Distribution is the tell: a brand that has grown five times online is now paying to enter the general-trade shelf where the incumbents make their volume. That is a higher-cost, lower-margin channel than the one it built on, and the profitability claim will be tested there first.

Gold Loans · Sep 7

Loans against gold jewellery at NBFCs grew 68.5% in July, the fastest line in retail credit

On September 7, Reserve Bank of India data showed that credit against gold jewellery at non-bank lenders grew 68.5% year on year in July, up from 43.9% a year earlier. Banks' gold loan growth moderated to 88.1% from 136.4%. At the end of July, NBFCs held a gold loan book of about Rs 3.54 trillion and banks about Rs 5.52 trillion.

Gold loans were the fastest-growing category of retail credit at NBFCs. Retail lending overall grew 21.4%, and within it, loans for consumer durables grew 51.5% and housing loans 11.9%. Total NBFC credit grew 14.9% to Rs 59.89 trillion.

The read is that Indian households are borrowing against the gold they already own to fund the purchases they want now, from appliances to festive spending, at a time when gold's price has made every locker worth more. The question is what happens to that book if gold's price keeps falling, as it did by 3% at the end of August.

The shift from banks to NBFCs in gold loan growth is partly a base effect, since banks had reclassified agricultural loans into gold loans a year ago, and partly regulatory: the RBI's tighter rules on loan-to-value and renewals put more friction on the bank branch, and the specialist NBFCs, which price faster and lend in smaller tickets, picked up the customer.

The consumer-durable number is the one to watch for FMCG and retail. Credit for durables growing 51.5% in July, before the festive season, means the appliance and phone buyer has already financed the purchase. That is demand pulled forward into the festival window, and it usually comes with a quieter quarter afterwards.

Pharma · Sep 7

India's medicine market grew 10.7% in August on price and new launches, while volumes barely moved

On September 7, market researcher Pharmarack reported that the Indian pharmaceutical market grew 10.7% in value in August, to Rs 23,272 crore from Rs 20,984 crore a year ago. Volume growth was 1.1%, the lowest in three months, after 3.3% in July, 2.3% in June and 1.3% in May.

The growth came from chronic therapies and new introductions. Cardiac drugs grew 15.1% to Rs 3,229 crore and anti-diabetes drugs 15% to Rs 2,197 crore. Pain and analgesics grew 11.3%. Anti-infectives and respiratory drugs, the acute lines that carry the monsoon season, grew just 2.7% and 2.2%.

A 10.7% value line on a 1.1% volume line means most of the growth is price and mix. The country is spending more on the same number of pills, and spending it on the conditions that do not go away.

Pharmarack attributes the volume softness to a high base, since last August's acute season was heavier. The chronic-heavy mix is the structural story: cardiac and diabetes drugs are a monthly repeat purchase for a growing share of households, and their growth does not depend on the weather.

Among companies, the largest players posted modest growth while mid-sized firms such as AstraZeneca (26.5%), Corona Remedies (22%), La Renon (19.3%) and Zydus (19.1%) grew fastest, mostly on new launches. For the pharmacy chains and the online medicine platforms, a market growing on price is easier to take margin from than one growing on volume, as long as the government's price-control list does not widen.

⚡ 30-Second Scan

Maruti Suzuki will raise prices on select models by up to Rs 20,000 from September, its third increase since May, citing sustained input-cost pressure; Tata Motors raised passenger vehicle prices by up to Rs 25,000 earlier this month (Business Standard).

The Department of Telecommunications' apex panel has approved TRAI's satellite spectrum recommendations, including a 5% spectrum usage charge on adjusted gross revenue, clearing the way for Eutelsat OneWeb, Starlink and Jio Satellite to seek Cabinet approval and security clearance for commercial launch (Business Standard).

Men's apparel brand DaMENSCH raised Rs 17.4 crore from A91 Partners and Tancom Electronics at a flat valuation of about Rs 600 crore, with FY25 revenue up 34% to Rs 118 crore as rival XYXX scaled 46% to Rs 187 crore (Entrackr).

Sourced from public reporting; analysis by The Insight Labs.

Sources: Business Standard, FADA, Entrackr, RBI, Pharmarack.

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