NEW DELHI: Mahindra & Mahindra on Friday reported a consolidated profit after tax of Rs 2,361 crore in the first quarter ended June, driven by strong performance of its automotive and farm sector segments.
The company, which had posted a consolidated loss after tax of Rs 332 crore in the year-ago period, said the semiconductor shortage issue that has impacted its auto sector in the last couple of years, is largely behind, and it is too early to comment on the impact of the Taiwan crisis on the same.
Revenue from operations increased to Rs 28,412 crore in the first quarter this fiscal as compared with Rs 19,172 crore in the corresponding period a year ago, M&M said in a regulatory filing.
Total expenses during the quarter were higher at Rs 26,195 crore, as against Rs 20,286 crore last year, the company said.
The automotive segment clocked revenue of Rs 12,741 crore in the quarter, up from Rs 6,317 crore in the previous year. In volume terms, the company said it sold 1,49,803 vehicles in the quarter under review. The same stood at 85,858 vehicles in the year-ago period, a growth of 74 per cent.
The farm equipment vertical had a revenue of Rs 8,428 crore. It was Rs 7,189 crore in the preceding year, the company said.
Tractor sales were at 1,17,413 units in the June quarter from 99,127 units in the corresponding period last year, up 18 per cent.
"We saw good momentum across all our group companies, led by the strong results of the auto and farm sector," M&M Ltd Managing Director & CEO Anish Shah said.
While addressing a virtual conference, Shah said the semiconductor issue is "largely abated" and has very little impact at present.
The long waiting period of its vehicles, including the XUV700 that ranges from 22-24 months is largely due to demand of vehicles and the company's capacity constraints and not necessarily due to chips shortage.
When asked about the possible impact of interest rate hike, Shah said it hasn't had any major effect on demand, as shown by the order for the new Scorpio-N which has clocked over a lakh bookings.
Also, as on August 1, the company has a booking pipeline of over 1.4 lakh for its other SUVs, including XUV300, XUV700, Thar and Bolero.
Moreover, he said the current interest rates are in the same range as those in the pre-Covid period.
M&M Executive Director Rajesh Jejurikar said the company is working to enhance production in order to fulfill customer order but the demand, especially of the new Scorpio-N has exceeded much beyond what the company was expecting.
On the crisis in Taiwan, one of the major producers of semiconductors, he said it is too early to comment on the impact of chips supply as everyone is grappling with it in the last two days.
Besides, Shah said the dependence for semiconductor is not a single country specific as chips are also sourced from other parts of world such as Malaysia.
On a query regarding hybrid cars, Rajesh Jejurikar said the Mumbai-based automaker had no immediate plans to bring in such technology in their product range.
Shah said EV drives the cleaner environment and hybrids do it only partially, "so why do something partially?"
The financial services segment registered Rs 2,877 crore revenue in the first quarter, up from Rs 2,530 crore in the last year, while the hospitality vertical clocked revenue Rs 613 crore, up from Rs 394 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, it added.
Real estate vertical, however, clocked lower revenue at Rs 95 crore from Rs 150 crore last fiscal.
Asked to comment on the overall economic scenario and issues around inflation, Shah said India is much better positioned compared to other countries, largely due to a series of steps taken by the Centre and the RBI.
"We should be able to do well, we are very positive of where India is today," Shah asserted.
