Anish Shah.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. (M&M) reported fourth-quarter consolidated net profit grew 4% YoY to ₹2,754 crore, weighed down by weaker profitability at Tech Mahindra.

Consolidated revenue grew 9% to ₹35,452 crore. Net profit grew 10% in FY24 to ₹11,269 crore and revenue rose 15% to ₹1,39,078 crore.

“It has been an excellent year with most of our businesses delivering high level of performance,” said MD & CEO Anish Shah. “Auto continued its high growth trajectory, farm gained share in a tough market and Mahindra Finance delivered on asset quality. Tech Mahindra was a weak spot, the turnaround has commenced with the new organisation in place,” Mr. Shah added.

The auto segment posted FY24 profit growth of 64% at ₹10,718 crore as revenue grew 17% to ₹1,01,219 crore.

SUV push

M&M announced plans to invest ₹37,000 crore in the next three years on new models, with ₹27,000 crore to be invested in the auto business: ₹14,000 crore for ICE vehicles and ₹12,000 crore for EVs.

By 2030, M&M aims to introduce nine ICE and seven EV SUVs and another seven LCVs. Production was being ramped up from 49,000 units a month in FY24 to 64,000 units a month in FY25 and 72,000 units a month in FY26.

In FY24 the firm sold 8,24,939 vehicles, up 18%. But tractor sales were down 7% to 3,74,955 units.

The board has declared a dividend of ₹21.10 per equity share with face value of ₹5. 

FirstCry parent BrainBees filed papers with SEBI last December for an IPO that would have been one of the country’s biggest this year. 
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Retailer FirstCry is set to withdraw its papers for an up to $500 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) as early as next week, after markets regulator raised questions over key metrics it disclosed to investors, said three sources with direct knowledge of the issue.

FirstCry, backed by SoftBank, TPG and India’s Mahindra and Mahindra sells baby products, including clothes, diapers and toys, seeking to tap the market for new parents in the world’s most populous country.

FirstCry parent BrainBees filed papers with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) last December for an IPO that would have been one of the country’s biggest this year. While it filed to raise about $215 million via fresh shares, it plans to raise $300 million more via sale of existing shares, the sources said.

However in recent weeks, SEBI told the company it had not complied with Indian regulations that mandate an IPO-bound company must share all key business metrics that in its papers that it has shared with prospective investors in the last three years, the three sources said.

FirstCry and SEBI did not return requests for comment.

SEBI introduced this rule in 2022, hightening scrutiny of companies looking to list, after wide-spread criticism on the seemingly lax oversight over large loss-making companies which have commanded lofty valuations.

FirstCry’s Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), include its average order value, annual transacting customers and number of orders, its papers show.

FirstCry will now withdraw its IPO papers, make changes and refile them as early as next week, two of the sources said.

For the year ended March 31, 2023, its losses jumped six times to $57.6 million, while its total income more than doubled to $684 million, its draft papers show.

Volkswagen and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd have signed a supply agreement on the use of key electric components of the German carmaker’s open platform for electric vehicles (EVs), the companies said in a statement on Friday.

Mahindra plans to use certain platform components, as well as Volkswagen’s unified battery cell, for its own electric platform, called INGLO, the companies said.

Mahindra shares climbed as much as 5.6% to a record high in Mumbai trading after the news.

The Indian company will be the first external partner to use the unified cell, a new cell technology that Volkswagen plans to use for 80% of its battery cells and promises will reduce costs by half.

Volkswagen said the agreement would run “over several years” and have a total volume of about 50 gigawatt hours of energy storage capacity over its lifetime.

The two companies were evaluating further opportunities for collaboration, the statement added.

Volkswagen has developed a modular, open vehicle platform for EVs, called MEB, which is used to build its cars and those of other group companies including Skoda and Audi. This also allows Volkswagen to be a supplier of electric technology and parts to other automakers.

The supply agreement was the first of its kind for Volkswagen – but the carmaker said last September that it was in talks with other players about similar deals, including manufacturers of cars with combustion engines in Asia who were considering producing cars for the European market via a Volkswagen collaboration.

Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer Defense & Security and Mahindra signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to jointly bid for the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) Medium Transport (MTA) Aircraft tender. Embraer is pitching its C-390 Millennium multi-mission aircraft for the deal. The MoU was signed at the Embassy of Brazil in New Delhi on Friday.

“We are honored to announce this MoU with Mahindra. India has a diverse and strong defense and aerospace industry and we have chosen Mahindra as our partner to jointly pursue the MTA program” said Mr Bosco da Costa Junior, President & CEO, Embraer Defense & Security in a statement. “India is a key market for Embraer and we fully support India’s ambitions for ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’. We see this partnership as a symbol of strengthening relations between Brazil and India and a way to foster Global South cooperation.”

Embraer and Mahindra will engage with the IAF to identify the next steps of the MTA program, as well as contact the local aerospace industry in India to start developing the industrialisation plan for the project, the company said in a statement.

The C-390 Millennium multi-mission tactical transport aircraft offers unmatched mobility, combining high productivity, and operating flexibility with low operating costs, which is an unbeatable combination, the company said. “The current fleet of aircraft in operation has accumulated more than 11,500 flight hours, with operational availability of around 80% and mission completion rates above 99%, demonstrating exceptional productivity in the category.”

The C-390 Millennium attained its Full Operational Capability status with the Brazilian Air Force in 2023 and there is also a configuration with air-to-air refuelling equipment, with the designation KC-390 which functions both as a tanker and as a receiver, the statement added. “Both Embraer and Mahindra will explore the potential to turn India into a future hub of the C-390 aircraft for the region,” the statement read.

The IAF issued a Request for Information (RFI) for a MTA in December 2022 and the deadline to respond expired on March 31, 2023. There are three responses to the RFI which include the Airbus A-400M, the Lockheed Martin C-130, and the Embraer C-390. Among them, the A-400M has a maximum carrying capacity of 37 tonnes, the C-130 close to 20 tonnes and the C-390 can carry up to 26 tonnes.

The RFI states that the MTA should have a load carrying capacity between 18 to 30 tonnes and has carried comprehensive study to identify the current and future payload carrying requirements of the force.

The MTA could become a potential replacement for a part of the much smaller AN-32s in service and could also replace the larger IL-76, which is also being looked into. There is a huge gap in carrying capacities at the moment with the current aircraft which needs to adjusted, as reported earlier.

The transport fleet of the IAF currently consists of over 100 AN-32s, 56 AVROs in the process of being replaced with the Airbus C-295, the IL-76 heavy transports, and the IL-78 mi-air refuelling tankers from Russia, the 12 C-130J Super Hercules and the 11 C-17 Globemaster strategic airlift aircraft from the US. Of these, the IL-76 has a capacity to list 45-50 tonnes and the C-17 up to 70 tonnes.

An earlier project to jointly co-develop and produce a MTA of 20 tonnes with Russia to replace the An-32s was scrapped few years back after initial design discussions, as reported by The Hindu earlier.