Disaggregate Model for Vehicle Ownership Behavior of Indian Households

For a highly populated developing country, such as India, that imports a significant share of its petroleum, it is necessary to understand the private vehicle ownership behavior of the country's households to design policies fostering sustainable development of the country's transportation sector. The study addresses this concern by developing an all-India disaggregate model for private vehicle ownership behavior with the use of data of the Consumer Expenditure Survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office of the government of India from July 2009 to June 2010. An appropriate proxy variable for economic standard has been designed as an explanatory variable in the vehicle ownership model. The study evaluates the effect of various socioeconomic factors on the private vehicle ownership behavior of Indian households after testing the relevance of each of the factors. It also confirms that economic standard and household size are two important determinants of private vehicle ownership behavior.