She started by building a car dealership in one of India’s most remote states. Now, Pema YK Loyi is sitting at the head of the table nationally.
The Arunachal Pradesh entrepreneur has been appointed Chairperson of Women in FADA (WIF) — the women’s wing of the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations of India — making her the first woman from Eastern and North-Eastern India to ever hold that position. The announcement was made at FADA’s 63rd Annual General Meeting held in New Delhi, and it didn’t come out of nowhere. This is someone who has been quietly, steadily rewriting what’s possible for women in a field that has long been an old boys’ club.
FADA is no small body. Founded back in 1964, it is the apex national organisation representing India’s automobile retail industry, with over 15,000 dealerships under its umbrella. Getting appointed to lead even its women’s wing takes serious credentials. Loyi has them.
As Managing Director of Iconic Automobiles, she has built one of the most recognisable automobile dealerships in the Northeast. The company holds authorised dealership rights for Mahindra & Mahindra’s passenger and commercial vehicles across Arunachal Pradesh, with multiple showrooms and workshop facilities spread across the state. That alone is an achievement worth noting. But Loyi didn’t stop at running a profitable dealership.
Her Itanagar facility made national news for a reason most people outside the Northeast never heard enough about — it became India’s first all-women-run Mahindra showroom. Think about that for a moment. In an industry where women are rarely seen behind the counter, let alone running the entire floor, Loyi built something that didn’t just employ women but put them in charge. Every step of operations. Every sale. Every handshake.
She has also been vocal about why this matters. At the 13th FADA Auto Summit in 2025, she took the stage for a session called “Women in FADA – Driven by Courage,” sharing her experiences in an industry that, even today, tends to raise an eyebrow when a woman walks in wanting to talk business instead of just buy a car.
The recognitions have followed her work, not the other way around. In August 2026, she received the ‘Woman Transforming Auto Retail (East)’ Award at the 9th ETAuto Retail Forum in New Delhi. A year earlier, Bank of Baroda had recognised her as one of the leading women entrepreneurs from the Northeast during its 118th Founders’ Day celebrations.
Now, stepping into the national chairperson’s role, Loyi says her focus will be clear — strengthening women’s participation across the automobile dealership ecosystem and opening more doors for women who want leadership and entrepreneurial roles in the sector. Given her track record, those aren’t just words.
What her appointment also signals, quietly but powerfully, is a shift happening in how the rest of India sees the Northeast — not as a distant, peripheral region producing occasional news, but as a place capable of producing leaders who shape national institutions.
Arunachal Pradesh sent someone to lead. The rest of the country’s automobile retail industry answered by handing her the chair.
