New Delhi, Apr 26 (PTI) Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Saturday said only the country’s top 12 per cent households can afford a car and the root cause of this economic slowdown is widespread real-income stagnation for the majority of India.

He cited the remarks of Maruti Suzuki India’s chairman, R C Bhargava, who has claimed that buying cars is restricted to only 12 per cent households in India.

In a post on X, the Congress leader said, “The entire nation is still in a state of great anguish and shock. The brutal terror attack in Pahalgam has cast a long shadow on our lives.” “Even so, we cannot but take note of what the Chairman of Maruti Suzuki India has said today, which has a great bearing on the economy,” he said, quoting Bhargava that buying cars in India is largely limited to the top 12 per cent households — those with an annual income exceeding Rs 12 lakh.

He pointed out that according to Bhargava, even small cars have become unaffordable for the remaining 88 per cent households, with their sales declining by about 9 per cent, and the overall passenger vehicles sales growth between 2023-2024 and 2024-25 was only 2 per cent.

The growth for the upcoming year is also anticipated to be only 1-2 per cent, Bhargava has observed.

“The root cause of this slowdown is the widespread real income stagnation for the majority of India,” Ramesh claimed in his post. PTI SKC RC