Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Monday reported a 22% year-on-year (y-o-y) rise in standalone profit for the March quarter at Rs 2,437 crore, helped by a richer product mix in the SUV category and a surge in tractor margins. The automaker’s revenue from operations improved 25% y-o-y to Rs 31,353 crore.
While the company narrowly missed the Bloomberg estimate of Rs 2,490 crore on the profit front, it managed to beat the revenue estimate of Rs 30,024 crore.
M&M’s sports utility vehicle (SUV) volumes jumped 18% to more than 149,000 units during the quarter. It continued to enjoy the market leader position in the segment in terms of revenue, clocking a market share of 23.5%.
Volumes in the farm equipment segment were up 23% to more than 87,000 units in the March quarter.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) margin at the standalone level stood at 13.3% compared to 13.5% clocked in the same quarter in FY24. Core tractor profit before interest and tax (PBIT) margin at 20.8% was the highest in more than three years.
M&M also undertook an investment writeoff of Rs 654 crore during the quarter.
Group CEO and managing director Anish Shah said: “We had promised SUV growth of mid-to-high teens (for FY25) and we have come a bit ahead of that at 20% in a market which has been a difficult one.”
M&M grabbed the Number 2 spot once again, pushing Tata Motors to the third spot in the domestic passenger vehicle (PV) rankings in April. The Mumbai-based company has been growing faster than the industry every month, beating slowdown blues seen by rivals, including Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai.
For FY26, M&M is targeting percentage growth that will be in ‘mid-to-high teens’. It will showcase a new vehicle platform on August 15, which will be produced at the Chakan plant. Three SUVs powered by internal combustion engines and two battery electric vehicles will be launched in 2026.
To keep the momentum going, M&M has decided to build a new factory which will take care of its mid-term production needs. “We have not decided the location of the new plant yet but it will be a large futuristic plant. The cash flow required for it has been provided in the capex,” said Rajesh Jejurikar, executive director & CEO (auto and farm sector).
“We are keeping it primarily as a PV plant but we would keep provision for some other elements as we keep conceptualising and see the investment subsidies from different states,” he added.
The current capacity utilisation on the SUV side is more than 90%. Thar Roxx and XUV 3XO are fully utilised on capacity while the Scorpio is close to full utilisation, but Bolero is relatively at a lesser level, according to the company.
On the passenger EV front, M&M said it delivered 6,300 units of the BE 6 and XEV 9e out of the 30,000+ bookings it received for them. Jejurikar said that the EV business was Ebitda-positive without the PLI scheme.
“We have a waiting period of 4-5 months on the EVs. We are going to be very calibrated in terms of ramp-up of EV production, even though we have capacity. Overall, the feedback has been very strong,” Jejurikar added.