Mahindra Group to Invest Rs 37k cr, Boost Auto Biz with 23 New Vehicles

New Delhi, May 16 (PTI) Mahindra Group plans to invest Rs 37,000 crore over the next three years across business verticals with a major portion earmarked for the auto sector to introduce 23 new vehicles, its MD and CEO Anish Shah said on Thursday.

The company plans to introduce nine internal combustion engine (ICE) SUVs, seven battery electric vehicles (BEV) and seven light commercial vehicles by 2030.

Out of the nine ICE SUVs, six would be brand new models and three would be refreshed versions of existing models.

"In the next three years we are looking at deploying Rs 37,000 crore of cash. A large part of that is going into the auto vertical," Shah told reporters in an earnings conference.

The company is not going to ignore internal combustion engine (ICE) models as they continue to be an important part of the company's product portfolio. "It is going to be important for consumers over the next five to seven years," he said.

The company has earmarked Rs 27,000 crore for the auto division between FY25 and FY27. The company will invest Rs 14,000 crore in the ICE vertical on new model introductions as well as launching refreshed version of the existing models and ensure that the company has the best SUV portfolio.

Shah further said the EV segment will get Rs 12,000 crore.

"The auto business is going to be self-generating from a cash standpoint and the company would not need funds from outside," he said on the funding of the investment.

Besides, the company will put in Rs 5,000 crore each in the farm and services businesses. M&M Executive Director & CEO (Auto and Farm Sector) Rajesh Jejurikar said the company plans to enhance the manufacturing capacity of its SUVs from 49,000 units a month currently to 64,000 units a month by next year end.

"At the end of FY26, we expect it to be in the range of 72, 000 units per month," he added.

Answering a query he, noted that M&M is looking at "mid to high teens" sales growth this fiscal for its SUVs, which is expected to be higher than the industry growth, Jejurikar stated.

The company currently has pending orders for 2.2 lakh vehicles and the focus is to execute these and reduce the waiting period, he said.

When asked if hybrids should get government support in terms of lower GST, Shah said: "I know there has been a lot of debate on this but government incentives typically are to enable an industry to transition to a place that is better for the economy."

Now electric vehicles have no emissions and in that context, governments around the world are providing incentives for EVs to help enable that transition, he stated. He noted that governments around the world largely have stopped providing any incentives for hybrid for the last 20 years.

On whether M&M would consider launching hybrid vehicles, Shah said, "Now, from a consumer demand standpoint, if that becomes a bigger factor, we will be ready for that. So we view hybrid as an extension of ICE... And to the extent if that's required we'll be ready for that."

Asked about India's new EV policy, he said welcomed it saying it is geared towards 'Make in India' initiative.

"We've always been saying that we should encourage all automakers to Make in India, we welcome competition. We've got a much better with competition. We thrive with competition. So we're very happy for competition to come to India," he stated.