Established players including TVS Motor, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp have surged ahead as of January 2026, capturing 60% of the category, according to automotive market research firm Jato Dynamics. In 2023, this number stood at 34%.
Beyond early adopters
The shift has caught pace over the past year, underscoring how the market is moving from rapid disruption to consolidation driven by scale, reliability and execution. While startups built the category and captured early adopters, legacy players are now winning over mainstream buyers by leveraging deep distribution, after-sales networks and tightly sequenced launches.
Industry executives and analysts say the change reflects evolving consumer priorities. As electric scooters move beyond novelty and into everyday commuting, buyers are placing greater emphasis on reliability, service access and long-term ownership costs, areas where traditional original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) enjoy a structural advantage.
“Being first mattered in the early phase. Now consistency matters more,” said an industry executive. “Legacy players waited, built their supply chains and dealer readiness, and are now scaling at the right time.”By early 2026, the electric two-wheeler market has clearly transitioned from a startup-led disruption phase to one dominated by incumbents, particularly TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto. Competition has intensified, but the nature of that competition has changed, from aggressive price-led expansion to a focus on portfolio depth, manufacturing stability and customer experience.
TVS Motor has emerged as a beneficiary of this shift. Its electric strategy combines steady capacity expansion with a widening product portfolio, allowing it to address multiple customer segments. Speaking after the company’s Q3 FY26 results, KN Radhakrishnan, CEO and director of TVS Motor, said demand remained strong across both the flagship iQube and the recently launched Orbiter, which targets a different set of buyers.
In the December 2025 quarter, the company sold more than 100,000 electric scooters for the first time, despite supply-side disruptions earlier in the year. Analysts say this highlights the advantage of TVS’s distribution reach as volumes scale up.
Bajaj Auto has also staged a strong recovery after resolving battery pack supply constraints that had weighed on production earlier. With output ramped up, volumes rebounded sharply in the December quarter, helping Bajaj regain the number-two position in the electric scooter market. The company has expanded the Chetak range with a new entry-level variant aimed at younger buyers and women, broadening its appeal while reinforcing its positioning around reliability and value.
For startups though, growth trajectories are becoming more differentiated. Ather Energy reported a particularly strong December quarter, driven by rising demand for its Rizta scooter and improving operating leverage. Co-founder and CEO Tarun Mehta told analysts that expanding volumes over recent quarters had begun to unlock efficiencies, supporting margins as demand broadens.
Ola Electric’s sharper loss of market share, however, highlights the growing execution challenges in a more competitive market. Service scalability, operational consistency and rising customer expectations are increasingly shaping buyer preferences, narrowing the advantage that early movers once enjoyed. Other players such as Hero Motocorp ‘s Vida and Ampere continue to scale, but at a more measured pace than during the category’s early expansion.
Ravi Bhatia, president at Jato Dynamics, said the next phase of growth will increasingly favour scale players.
The upcoming ABS mandate is likely to raise vehicle costs, disproportionately impacting mid-range electric scooters. “Large OEMs can absorb these increases through scale and sourcing efficiencies, while smaller startups may face margin pressure. Although price-sensitive rural demand could soften in the short term, higher safety standards are expected to strengthen long-term consumer confidence,” said Bhatia.
Electric two-wheelers still account for a relatively small share of India’s overall two-wheeler market, but adoption continues to rise steadily. Growth is being supported by improvements in battery safety and durability, expanding service and dealer networks, and greater confidence in resale value and total cost of ownership.
Budget 2026’s PM E-DRIVE incentives, which emphasise localisation and domestic value addition, also structurally favour manufacturers with integrated supply chains. Beyond supporting domestic growth, the policy framework is expected to strengthen India’s push to become a global electric two-wheeler export hub by enabling scale, cost competitiveness and export-led expansion, say experts.
Source link
