Indian EV space seeing good progress with entry of global players, says Mahindra

Mahindra believes that the Indian electric vehicle market is seeing good progress with the entry of new international players. The homegrown auto giant that launched its renewed EV offensive in the recent past, with models such as the XEV 9e and BE 6, also stated that its own offerings stack up quite well against the competitors who are entering the segment. Mahindra's comment comes at a time when Tesla has just launched its first showroom in India earlier this month. Also, VinFast has started accepting pre-bookings for its VF6 and VF7 electric SUVs in the country.

At a post-earnings analyst meeting, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Group CEO & MD Anish Shah said that the Indian EV segment now has new players in the market share from a volume standpoint. "We believe that our goals should be around the revenue market share because our products will be at much higher revenue price points. We believe that more players will come in, and that is fundamentally the right direction for the country. We are seeing very good progress with new players coming in," he said in an apparent reference to global EV giant Tesla, which entered the domestic market earlier this month, with the launch of its Model Y crossover at ₹59.89 lakh (ex-showroom).

Watch: Mahindra XEV 9e review: New benchmark for EVs in India? | Range and road test | First impressions

Speaking about the rising rivalry in the Indian electric vehicle space, M&M Executive Director & CEO (Auto and Farm Sector) Rajesh Jejurikar said that competition has always made the company stronger. "What we've seen is that competition has always made us stronger. One difference we see this time is that usually, in the past, when competition came in, we had to improve our offerings, which we did, and we were able to combat competition well," he said, while also adding, “We will start now seeing a rapid growth in EV penetration in the same system structure that we make, and that will be in the next few months. Overall, it depends on the markets and the process." He also said that with the electric cars in its portfolio, Mahindra products actually stack up very well against its competitors coming in.

Meanwhile, Mahindra also stated that while urban sentiment in terms of demand currently is weak across the country, the fundamentals remain strong. Earlier, the company posted a 24 per cent year-on-year increase in its consolidated net profit to ₹4,083 crore for the June quarter, driven by broad-based growth across business verticals. The company reported a net profit of ₹3,283 crore for the April-June quarter of the last fiscal. Total income from operations rose to ₹45,529 crore in the June quarter against ₹37,218 crore in the year-ago period, Mahindra said in a regulatory filing. The auto company stated that auto and farm businesses continue to deliver on growth and margins, with profits up by 20 per cent.

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