5 Fold Increase in Vehicles in Kashmir in Last 17 Years, Major Source of Pollution.

Data from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) Kashmir has revealed that 7,22,199 vehicles were registered between 2004 and August, 2021.

Kashmir has seen 468 per cent increase in new vehicle registrations in the last 17 years, which is a five-fold jump since 2004.

As per data from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) Kashmir, between 1971 and 2004, Kashmir logged 1,54,277 vehicle registrations.

The share of private cars and two-wheelers in the total number of vehicles registered in the last five decades is almost 7 lakh. Out of these, car registration that has taken place is 3,11,608 while the registration number of two-wheelers is 3,85,672.

As per a market survey conducted by the business acquisition team of J&K Bank in 2018, car business had grown at an annual growth rate of 15 to 20 per cent.

The survey said, “out of the overall car industry worth Rs 900 crore, the share of cars purchased through bank finance constitutes almost 90 to 95 per cent”.

The automobile survey had revealed that despite the economic distress since 2014 floods, car business has been quite steady. As per figures of Motor Vehicle Department, as of March 2018, total number of 1,07,403 cars were present in Kashmir which has touched almost 1.75 lakh now.

As per the bank’s automobile survey, large scale migration of populations from far flung areas to towns is the reason that car business in these hinterland markets has seen a sharp increase.

As per the survey the most popular cars in demand are the ones priced between Rs 2.5 lakhs to Rs 3 lakhs.

As per automotive industry estimates, two-wheelers including bikes and scooty sales have also grown by a whopping more than 70 percent in the last few years.