Growing car ownership and dependence in India and its policy implications

• The paper addresses questions like: why people in India wish to own a car, how dependent car owners are on their cars, in what circumstances they may be willing to shift to sustainable modes like, public transport, etc.
• The results clearly indicate that low interest rates on car loan (easy finance schemes) have played an important role in growing car ownership among youngsters in India.
• In India car dependency is felt the very moment a person owns a car.
• Contrary to the results reported in earlier studies, the chi square test suggests that the level of car necessity is not dependent on total distance travelled using car by the respondent.

Reducing car traffic to improve sustainability of transport has become important policy tool in recent past. Most of the developed countries have realized that building more roads for an unrelenting growth of vehicles is not a solution for the problems like congestion and pollution. In spite of this realization in developed world, India is still experiencing exponential growth in ownership and use of cars owing to various reasons that elicit a deeper study and understanding to determine the various underlying factors that are causing these trends in India and what policy interventions are possible to control them. This paper focuses on studying the antecedents of car ownership in India with respect to: attitudinal factor, safety factor, time and cost factors and environmental factors and addresses questions like: why people in India wish to own a car, how dependent car owners are on their cars, in what circumstances they may be willing to shift to sustainable modes like, public transport, etc. The methodology consists of an online survey, using structured questionnaire, with car owners which has been done on sample basis in different Indian cities with an attempt to obtain unbiased and representative responses. The statistical analysis and interpretation of the collected data have brought out the main contributing factors behind the car ownership and use trends in India, and their policy implications.