Home Delivery Upwash Re-ignites Scooter And Bike Sales in Smaller Cities

Two sons worked with food delivery giants Swiggy and Zomato, while the third was ferrying groceries for local `kirana’ shops, that still gave online stores a run for their money. 

A prerequisite for all three jobs was a two-wheeler for quick home delivery of foodstuffs and grocery items. It had forced the family to make what was a huge investment for them of over Rs 4.5 lakh, which represented half a year’s earnings for the entire family.

Three years of heavy eating and heavier grocery ordering have seen motorcycles and all manner of two-wheelers zipping across India’s Tier II cities again, as a rising number of people opt to order in meals from the convenience of their homes.

Changed lifestyles, high vegetable and ingredient costs, and easy access to affordable food items at the click of a button are seeing two-wheelers laughing all the way to the bank. So much so, that sales are at an all-time high, just four years after Covid-19 arrived to lock the world inside homes and sent businesses of all kinds scurrying for cover.

The Numbers Game

Let the numbers do the talking. According to estimates released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), domestic two-wheeler sales jumped in FY 2023-24 by 13 per cent to around 1.84 crore units.

A break-up of these numbers is interesting, as petrol-fired models made up 95 per cent of total sales, which suggests that around 10 lakh two-wheelers sold over the year were battery-powered.

Electric two-wheelers are also fast emerging, seen ferrying the men who ferry our food to us.

Future outlook seems hopeful with petrol-run motorcycles and scooters slated to continue seeing a near 20 per cent sales jump in FY 2024-25, well above pre-Covid-19 numbers.

Throw in the proportional urban-rural growth mish-mash and you have a heady concoction brewing for India’s two-wheeler industry.

Speaking of manufacturers, market leaders Hero MotoCorp, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India and Bajaj Auto have all seen surging demand for entry-level motorcycles, a trend that started in the festive season and has continued all through this year’s particularly harsh winter.

It is the ‘entry-level’ segment that give the employment game away, highlighting that new two-wheelers are increasingly being used to generate income.

As high a number as 55 per cent of entry-level two-wheelers sold in the country were in semi-urban and rural areas. Hero MotoCorp CEO Niranjan Gupta recently said, “India is a story of many India's. The bottom of the pyramid is coming back to consumption, while the middle and upper-middle classes are spending like never before.”

Both Work And Play

It is apparent that in this case, what’s sauce for the goose isn’t sauce for the gander. While one class is taking to two-wheelers for earnings and sustenance, another is doing so for leisure.

Either way, the industry is not complaining, as explained by Hemant Thakkar of Crisil Analytics. “We expect the momentum to continue (combustion engines and electric two-wheelers) and the industry should touch 1.85 crore petrol units and 15 lakh electric units, respectively, next year,” he added. 

Having spoken of the vehicles that transport our food transporters, let’s see the latter’s numbers. The food delivery ecosystem employs 15 lakh gig workers, growing at 16 per cent per annum, and serves nearly 32 crore users annually, reveals global data and business intelligence platform Statista.

In a reflection of India’s larger jobs debacle, most ‘delivery boys’ are well-educated (at least graduates) and have previously held good jobs. In this new avatar, though, they have no perks or benefits and their most prized possession is their two-wheeler, a key reason for their continued employment.

In tandem, the online food delivery market is also booming, projected to touch revenues of US$ 43.78 billion (Rs 3.68 lakh crore) this year and US$ 92.50 billion (Rs 7.77 lakh crore) by 2029. 

The grocery delivery market is no mean-shakes either, expected to grow 30.7 per cent in revenues from this year’s US$ 30.65 billion (around Rs 2.57 lakh crore). Together, these two segments are creating a milieu of opportunities, with one common denominator—the faithful two-wheeler.

Come The Bike Taxi

There is a new segment too emerging as a two-wheeler offering—bike taxis. Given today’s traffic snarls and high fuel costs, these ‘cabs’ are growing in number, with both fares and travel time dramatically lower than in regular cabs and auto-rickshaws.

Currently hovering at around 5 lakh, the total number of bike taxis in India is expected to grow to 50 lakh by 2030. Around 95 per cent of bike taxis are motorcycles, while scooters make up the rest. That’s another budding number that is causing cheer in the manufacturing space and creating employment for those without jobs.

It isn’t just delivery apps and bike taxis that have revitalised Tier II two-wheeler sales. Disposable incomes are running low, pockets aren’t deep anymore and banks are recalcitrant in doling out loans.

Thus, even on festive occasions, budgets are being juggled at the household level. As Punit Kumar of Koti village in Bundelkhand explains, "Ummeedein badal gayi hain. Pehle shaadi mein gaadi gift karte the, ab motorcycle mein log khush ho jate hai” (Expectations have changed. Earlier, marriages meant a car as gift. Now, they settle for a motorcycle). Talk about downsizing as an offshoot of a fluid economic situation.

(The writer is a New-Delhi based journalist and current affairs commentator. Views expressed are personal)