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State of Cycling in India

Thanks to my childhood friend and dad, I finally started to ride a bicycle without assistant wheels at 10 years of age. Since then my journey with cycle has been a topsy-turvy one.

I’ve desired a Firefox geared cycle since I was 11, used couple of cash prizes I won to buy a gear cycle when I was 13. As I shifted to city, my cycle usage has come down.

My stint at IIT Guwahati brought me back into cycling regularly. It was one photograph of my friend cycling down the a lonely road in Ladakh amidst the mountains which made me feel a sense of challenge towards cycling.

As I moved to Bengaluru, where the weather is much more accommodative of cycling, a cycle worth almost 20k was the first purchase with my salary.

I had one goal with cycling, to do the Manali-Leh cycling expedition I had one expectation from cycling, to be my daily driver.

This initial surge of adrenaline and new found love for cycling meant I was using it extensively as my daily commute to office, going to events on my cycle and weekend long cycling trips to explore various dosa across Bengaluru.

From this personal anecdote, let’s shift to a more social observation on trends surrounding cycling in India

Cycling in India

It’s a steady growing market in India. WIth electric bicycles giving a surge in trends these days. A respectable CAGR of 6.5%

It’s a $5Bn market in India, with even the average amount spent per cycle is projected to grow from ~$150 in 2017 to ~$200 in 2029. Despite the upward trajectory, the market is 1/4th the size of China’s market and 40% of US market.

The state of Punjab holds an 80% share in India’s bicycle production. The city of Ludhiana is the hub for bicycle manufacturing in India, with over 3,500-4,000 MSMEs producing bicycle components, while the cluster produces almost 40,000-50,000 bicycles per day.

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India is one of the least in per-capita usage of bicycles. As of 2018 there were 90 bicycles in India for every 1,000 inhabitants

Segments

This is a crude way of breaking down use cases and the segment of demographic buying cycles

	Transport	Recreational
Adult	Likely from lower economic groups, who can afford a cycle	Can use it for fitness, hobbyist cycling and transport
Children	To school, play what not	Cycle around

Let the praises begin

Let me focus from a POV of adult recreational

Fitness - Definitely a great way keep yourself burning some calories
Navigate through easily - Pavement or road, you can easily skip through traffic and get to destination faster on a blocked city road.
Exploration - Take the turn, stop anywhere, grab that snack, visit the mall. No parking fee 😛
It’s fun - If you are like me, who fell in love with cycling, then you realise it’s fun. I can’t explain what’s fun about cycling

Let the cribbing begin

While I had all praises for cycling, I’ll get much more precise on why

Weather & Geography - One of the hindrances we have for higher adoption of bicycles is the sheer climate. It’s not easy to cycle around in India for almost 8 months of high heat / rains across India. Some cities, like Bengaluru where I’m primarily based out of, is more conducive for Cycling
Infrastructure - I’ve cycled across placed, Bengaluru, Mysore, Vizag, Himachal. Atleast if you’ve driven or travelled by road on across India you would realise a lot of these roads are filled with potholes within city.
Safety - Given there are no

Cycling in India

It’s a steady growing market in India. WIth electric bicycles giving a surge in trends these days. A respectable CAGR of 6.5%

The state of Punjab holds an 80% share in India’s bicycle production. The city of Ludhiana is the hub for bicycle manufacturing in India, with over 3,500-4,000 MSMEs producing bicycle components, while the cluster produces almost 40,000-50,000 bicycles per day.

🚴🏽

India is one of the least in per-capita usage of bicycles. As of 2018 there were 90 bicycles in India for every 1,000 inhabitants

Let the praises begin

Let me focus from a POV of adult recreational

Fitness - Definitely a great way keep yourself burning some calories

Navigate through easily - Pavement or road, you can easily skip through traffic and get to destination faster on a blocked city road.

Exploration - Take the turn, stop anywhere, grab that snack, visit the mall. No parking fee 😛

It’s fun - If you are like me, who fell in love with cycling, then you realise it’s fun. I can’t explain what’s fun about cycling

Let the cribbing begin

While I had all praises for cycling, I’ll get much more precise on why

Weather & Geography - One of the hindrances we have for higher adoption of bicycles is the sheer climate. It’s not easy to cycle around in India for almost 8 months of high heat / rains across India. Some cities, like Bengaluru where I’m primarily based out of, is more conducive for Cycling

Infrastructure - I’ve cycled across placed, Bengaluru, Mysore, Vizag, Himachal. Atleast if you’ve driven or travelled by road on across India you would realise a lot of these roads are filled with potholes within city.

Safety - Given there are no