India's Mahindra & Mahindra's quarterly profit rises almost 13% on healthy demand

Nov 5 (Reuters) - Indian automaker Mahindra & Mahindra MAHM.NS on Thursday reported a 12.9% increase in quarterly profit as demand for its high-margin sport-utility vehicles helped cushion the impact of rising raw material costs.

The maker of Scorpio and Thar SUVs posted profit after tax of 51.02 billion rupees ($539.85 million) for the quarter ended September 30, 2026, compared to 45.21 billion rupees in the year-ago period.

India's consumption tax cuts last September have supported steady passenger vehicle demand, allowing automakers to raise prices to offset rising costs.

Mahindra & Mahindra, in line with peers such as Maruti Suzuki MRTI.NS and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles TAMO.NS, had raised its SUV prices by an average of 2.7% and commercial vehicles by 2% in July.

The company reported a 26% rise in total auto volumes for the three months ended September 30, 2026.

Mahindra's electric vehicle business has also emerged as a key growth driver. With EV adoption on the rise in India, automakers have been introducing newer models and improving their technology. Higher fuel prices have also encouraged customers to shift toward alternative-fuel vehicles.

The company reported a rise in second quarter revenue to 424.77 billion rupees compared to 334.22 billion rupees in the year-ago period.

($1 = 94.5075 Indian rupees)