ITANAGAR, Aug 25: Pema YK Loyi, Managing Director of Iconic Automobiles, has been honoured with the 'Woman Transforming Auto Retail (East)'award at the 9th ETAuto Retail Forum 2026, held in New Delhi on Tuesday.
Loyi was recognised for her "transformative leadership and contribution to creating new possibilities in automotive retail." The award was presented as part of the ETAuto Retail Honours 2026, organised by ETAuto, the automotive platform of The Economic Times Group.
The ETAuto Retail Honours is presented annually to recognise outstanding leaders and achievers in India's automobile dealership and retail industry. The 2026 forum brought together automobile dealers, original equipment manufacturers technology companies and financial institutions to discuss the evolving landscape of automotive retail.
Loyi entered the automotive retail business at the age of 22 and has built the business in a highly competitive and traditionally male-dominated industry.
Iconic Automobiles is an authorised dealer for Mahindra & Mahindra passenger and commercial vehicles across Arunachal Pradesh. The dealership operates multiple showrooms and workshop service centres at different locations across the state.
One of its prominent facilities in Itanagar has the distinction of being recognised as the country's first all-women-run Mahindra showroom.
Over the years, Loyi has led the expansion of Iconic Automobiles and established the dealership as a prominent automotive player in the region.
Her latest national recognition adds to a series of honours and platforms where her leadership and entrepreneurship have been acknowledged. At the Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations 13th Auto Summit 2025, she was invited as one of the prominent women leaders to speak during the 'Women in FADA - Driven by Courage' session.
In 2025, Bank of Baroda also honoured Loyi as a leading woman entrepreneur from the North-Eastern Region during the bank's 118th Founders' Day.
Her recognition at the ETAuto Retail Honours is particularly significant for Arunachal Pradesh and the North-East, a region that has comparatively less representation in the national automotive industry than major automotive markets such as Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Gujarat, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
