Road transport, predominantly via heavy and medium-duty trucks, accounts for nearly 70% of domestic freight in India. Truck numbers are expected to rise from 12.5 million to 14-15 million by 2028. Key growth factors for the industry include economic expansion, as India aims to become the world’s third-largest economy by 2027.
Globally, India’s $140 billion road freight industry ranks third for the highest freight tonnage hauled annually, second for the most road mileage (behind the U.S. with 6.7m kilometers and ahead of China with 5.2 million kilometers), and has the third highest amount of commercial vehicles.
India’s freight transport industry moves over 4.6 billion tonnes of goods annually, generating a demand of 2.2 trillion tonne-kilometers. This demand is projected to increase significantly, reaching 9.6 trillion tonne-km by 2050, primarily due to urbanization, population growth, e-commerce, and rising incomes.
The road transport industry in India is massive and plays a crucial role in its economy and logistics network, but it faces some unique challenges and is undergoing rapid transformation. India has one of the largest road networks globally, spanning over 6 million kilometers. Road transport is the backbone of India’s freight and passenger movement, handling about 65% of freight and over 85% of passenger traffic.
Road freight is the primary mode of transportation for goods, driven mainly by trucks. Small-scale operators and independent truck owners make up a large part of this sector. While there has been improvement, many roads, especially in rural areas, are in poor condition, causing delays, vehicle wear, and accidents. Urban areas, in particular, suffer from severe congestion. Metro cities like Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore have high traffic density, which affects carrier efficiency and diesel prices, toll charges, and maintenance costs, which are significant, impacting profitability, especially for small-scale operators.
Technological integration and digitization, including vehicle tracking and GPS, have been adopted to monitor vehicle location and improve route efficiency. New technology platforms are helping small truck operators find loads such as Vahak, optimize empty backhauls, and improve profitability. FASTag (a national toll collection system) has been introduced to reduce bottlenecks at toll plazas and improve efficiency.
Driver shortage
Like many countries worldwide, India’s trucking industry faces a significant transportation problem: driver shortage. According to Balasubramanian A, vice president of TeamLease Services, “For every 100 trucks, there are only about 55 drivers, compared to 75 drivers a few years ago. There are around 60,000 trucks on the roads, but roughly 36,000 drivers, meaning many trucks are sitting idle. The ratio was much better in the 1980s and 1990s, with about 1.3 drivers for every truck.
Contributing factors to the driver shortage include low salaries and poor health (over 50% of truck drivers develop health problems, such as back pain and cervical issues, by the age of 40-42), according to a month-long research study covering over 1,000 truckers conducted by Kantar IMRB in association with Castrol India.
The study found that truck drivers have among the highest rates of on-the-job fatality, yet 63% of truck drivers do not prioritize health among their top three priorities in life. Like truckers in the U.S. and Australia, long working hours, long periods away from home and family, and difficult road and driving conditions all emerged as issues impacting their health and well-being.
The All India Transporters Welfare Association (AITWA) launched the Highway Heroes+ program to support truck drivers by providing accident and medical insurance at a nominal cost, 24/7 help to prevent official harassment, and roadside legal aid.
Additionally, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has mandated that all new trucks manufactured on or after October 1, 2025, must be equipped with air-conditioned cabins to improve the driving experience of truck drivers in India.
The trucking industry in India is facing challenges similar to those in many other trucking economies worldwide. However, unlike most, it consists of numerous small fleets and owner-operators, which lack standardized equipment sizes. This situation allows brokers to play a vital role in connecting shippers and carriers. Through adopting technology and infrastructure development, they should improve road transport efficiencies and, in the process, attract more drivers to this growing industry.
