New Delhi, June 15: India’s automobile industry recorded its strongest-ever performance for the month of May, driven by robust demand across passenger vehicles, two-wheelers and three-wheelers, according to data released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) on Monday.

Domestic passenger vehicle (PV) sales surged 27.3 per cent year-on-year to a record 4,38,854 units in May 2026, compared to 3,44,656 units in the same month last year.

The two-wheeler segment also posted strong growth, with sales rising 14.8 per cent to 19,02,209 units, while three-wheeler volumes climbed 31.1 per cent to 70,720 units.

SIAM Director General Rajesh Menon said all three major vehicle segments recorded their highest-ever sales for the month of May.

He attributed the growth partly to the lower base of May 2025 and the demand boost generated by reduced GST rates and easier financing options.

“These factors continue to support higher vehicle off-take across categories,” he explained.

The strong wholesale numbers come on the back of a robust retail performance. Earlier, the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA) reported that passenger vehicle retail sales crossed the 4 lakh mark for the first time in May, rising 23.25 per cent year-on-year to 4,02,591 units.

FADA had credited the growth to strong rural demand, a revival in the entry-level car segment and sustained demand for sport utility vehicles (SUVs).

The two-wheeler segment delivered its best-ever May sales performance, led by a sharp increase in scooter demand. Scooter sales rose 27.4 per cent year-on-year to 7,39,667 units.

Motorcycle sales grew 7.2 per cent to 11,13,973 units, while moped sales jumped 30.3 per cent to 48,569 units during the month.

Passenger vehicles continued to benefit from improving affordability and positive consumer sentiment, helping the segment achieve its highest-ever sales volume for May.

The three-wheeler segment also maintained its growth momentum. Sales increased to 70,720 units from 53,942 units a year ago.

Passenger carriers remained the dominant category, with sales rising 30 per cent to 57,649 units, while goods carriers posted a stronger growth of 35.3 per cent to reach 11,802 units.

Electric three-wheelers also witnessed healthy growth. E-rickshaw sales increased 38.9 per cent to 1,000 units, while e-cart sales jumped 81.8 per cent to 269 units, albeit on a relatively small base.

New Delhi, June 15: Business chamber Assocham on Monday welcomed the peace deal between the USA and Iran as a major breakthrough that would benefit the entire world and bring the global economy back on the growth path.

Assocham president Nirmal K Minda said, “The peace deal had been awaited for many weeks. This is a major breakthrough between the USA and Iran for the benefit of the whole world, as war benefits no one.”

“India, though it mitigated the West Asia war impacts to a large extent, is expected to rebound strongly to attain its trend growth rate in the current financial year 2026-27. We can expect India to clock a growth rate of 7 per cent in FY2026-27 with dynamic and effective policy measures of the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India in recent months,” he observed.

The peace deal is expected to bring the global economy back on track and to achieve the earlier estimated GDP growth rate, he added.

US President Donald Trump while welcoming the peace agreement, said in a social media post that the Strait of Hormuz would be open to commercial shipping and the US would lift its naval blockade.

“Let the oil flow!” Trump remarked on Sunday. He went on to claim that, in contrast with the failures of past US presidents, he secured a “great deal that would bring peace and security to the whole region.”

US Vice-President JD Vance said in an interview with Fox News that Iran never possessing a nuclear weapon was “built into this agreement” and that the US will be able to verify compliance.

Questions over crucial issues including the restrictions that have to be imposed on enrichment uranium and the stockpile of highly enriched uranium with Iran are expected to be sorted out in subsequent talks.

In his comments, Vance also mentioned the hardship that US citizens had go through due to higher fuel prices and their cascading adverse impact on the economy.

He assured the American people that fuel prices would start coming down. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council released a statement on Sunday saying that “final negotiations will be postponed until after the implementation of the other party’s commitments under the memorandum of understanding”.

New Delhi, June 15: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry on Monday said that it launched a revised Wholesale Price Index (WPI) series with 2022-23 as the new base year and reported wholesale inflation at 9.68 per cent in May.

The new WPI series replaces the existing 2011-12 base year series and is part of a broader overhaul of producer price measurement in the country.

Alongside the revised WPI, the government released new series of Output Producer Price Index (OPPI), Trial Input Producer Price Index (IPPI) and Service Producer Price Indices (PPI) for seven services.

According to the ministry, the transition towards producer price indices is aligned with global best practices and recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The WPI series will continue to be released for five years to allow users sufficient time to transition to the PPI framework.

In addition, the All India WPI inflation rate for May stood at 9.68 per cent year-on-year, while the index for all commodities rose to 109.9.

Among major groups, inflation in primary articles accelerated to 4.99 per cent in May.

However, fuel and power inflation surged to about 30 per cent, while manufactured products inflation rose to 7.48 per cent during the same period.

The ministry said mineral oils, crude petroleum and natural gas, chemicals and chemical products, and basic metals were among the major contributors to wholesale inflation.

Moreover, the WPI Food Index recorded inflation of 4.49 per cent in May.

As part of the revision, the total number of items covered under the WPI basket has increased from 697 to 957.

The new series also incorporates renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power under the electricity category and includes nuclear electricity in the basket, the government said.

Meanwhile, the government has reorganised the energy basket by moving crude petroleum and natural gas from the primary articles group to fuel and power.

The revised methodology uses gross value of output (GVO) for deriving weights and introduces updated techniques for index compilation and treatment of missing price data.

The ministry said the new output PPI for all commodities stood at 109.6 in May, while the trial Input PPI for the manufacturing sector was recorded at 104.9.