Same Car, 36 Prices: On-Road Price by State (2026)

One car, 36 different bills

An ex-showroom price is the same number everywhere in India. What you actually hand over is not, because road tax is a state levy — each state sets its own percentage, bands it by the car's price, and in several states charges diesel more than petrol. Add registration, FASTag, insurance and 1% TCS above ₹10 lakh and the same car has 36 prices.

We priced the base variant of all 77 combustion cars we hold in every one of the 36 states and union territories, using the Delhi ex-showroom price throughout so that nothing but the state charges can move. The gap between the cheapest and the dearest place to register runs from ₹55,102 to ₹8,26,310, with a median of ₹1,28,662 and a mean of ₹1,63,554.

Looking for one car in your own state? The on-road price calculator gives the line-by-line bill for any variant, and every car's own on-road page ranks all 36 states for it. This page is the comparison across cars.

Two things are deliberately outside this comparison. Electric cars, because most states' EV road-tax concessions are ones we have not yet verified, and a stand-in rate would end up deciding which state is dearest; each EV's own on-road page says which states are verified, and electric cars in India lists them with the date each was read. And BH-series registration, which is taxed under a separate scheme for people who move between states; every figure here is an ordinary state registration.

The headline figures

Widest gap

₹8,26,310MG Majestor Savvy 4x2 2.0 Twin Turbo Diesel AT — ₹47,51,338 in Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu against ₹55,77,648 in Kerala, which is 17.4% of the cheaper figure.Every state for this car →

Narrowest gap

₹55,102Maruti Alto K10 STD(O) 1.0 Petrol MT — ₹3,99,559 in Sikkim against ₹4,54,661 in West Bengal. The cheapest cars have the least tax to differ over.Every state for this car →

Dearest state

KarnatakaDearest for 71 of the 77 cars. The exceptions are Kerala for the MG Majestor, Toyota Fortuner, Maruti Invicto, Jeep Meridian; West Bengal for the Maruti S-Presso, Maruti Alto K10. West Bengal sets a minimum road tax of ₹62,500, and on the cheapest cars that floor is more than any percentage charged elsewhere.

Cheapest state

Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and DiuCheapest for 70 of the 77 cars. The exceptions are Sikkim for 7 cars.

Cheapest of the 28 states

Arunachal PradeshAmong the 28 states alone, with the eight union territories (Delhi among them) left out, it is cheapest for 63 of the 77 cars. The exceptions are Sikkim for 10 cars; Nagaland for the MG Majestor, Toyota Fortuner, Maruti Invicto, Jeep Meridian.

Averaged over cars, not weighted by sales — we hold no sales data. A state's figure is therefore what it adds to a typical car in our catalogue, which skews towards the cheaper end: 43 cars of the 77 start under ₹10 lakh.

A median of one car is that car, so the last row is the median of 2 cars. Bands with no car in them are left out rather than printed empty.

The two cars either side of the line make it concrete. The Tata Curvv Smart X 1.2 Turbo Petrol MT is ₹9,99,990 ex-showroom and its gap is ₹1,31,399. The Renault Duster Authentic 1.0 Turbo Petrol MT is ₹10,49,000 — ₹49,010 dearer, the closest pair of petrol cars in the catalogue that straddles ₹10 lakh, so a diesel rate cannot creep into the step — and its gap is ₹1,72,721. A difference of ₹49,010 in sticker price moves the state-to-state spread by ₹41,322.

What to do with this

Mostly nothing, and that is worth saying plainly. Road tax follows where the car is registered, which has to be where you can prove you live — registering in a cheaper state you have no address in is not a loophole, it is a false declaration. What the spread is genuinely useful for is planning a move, understanding why a quote in one city does not match a friend's in another, and budgeting: if you are shopping near ₹10 lakh, a discount that drops the sticker below the line saves you the tax band as well as the discount.

If you want the rest of the bill explained — what each line is, which ones the government sets and which the dealer has added — that is the companion guide. The slab tables themselves, state by state, are in RTO charges by state, and you can put your own figures through the on-road price calculator.

How these figures were worked out

Cite this data