EV capacity of 1 lakh will be up by the end of this year: M&M’s Rajesh Jejurikar

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) said that it will be ready with a capacity of 100,000 units for electric vehicles (EVS) by the end of this financial year.

At the post-earnings press meet, Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director and CEO (Auto and Farm Sector) at M&M said, “When we finish FY25, we would have added about 100,000 capacity for Born Electric.That capacity sits in M&M, doesn’t sit in MEAL (Mahindra Electric Automobile Limited) and it’s for the electric SUVs which are under M&M. Then we add another 100,000-odd capacity as we get to the end of FY26, but we can phase that out as we need to.”
 
Separately, M&M on Wednesday reported a decline of 5% in its standalone net profit for the first quarter of financial year 2025 on a year-on-year basis. However, the net profit excluding the previous year's one-time gains grew 23% on year, driven by robust double-digit volume improvement with a favorable mix, moderation in input cost inflation and higher average selling price.

M&M has lined up an investment of Rs 12000 crore towards EVs. It has announced 4-5 new models on the INGLO platform, which will have key components from global automajor Volkswagen Group. Despite the first move, the company has so remained a sub-optimal player with just XUV 400 while its homegrown rival Tata Motors leading the chart with over 75% market share.

Jejurikar said that the company remains optimistic about its EV growth plans. “We believe the country needs a strong electrification drive. We’ve created products which will excite the market and we will be on track for launching our new EVs going forward,” he added.
 
When it comes to electric three wheelers, M&M’s MD Anish Shah said that the outline of the FAME scheme has been as per their expectations. “I would give a lot of credit to the government for setting up FAME 2 and then EMPS because this has enabled a very strong transition. This is exactly how incentives should work because industry has gone from 0-20% electric for 3 wheelers and we expect it to be 100% electric by 2030, maybe even sooner. After FAME 3, there’s a PLI that’s existing already. Plus we will not need any more incentives. This is how incentives should work which is you create it for a specific time frame, take it from a 0-100% transformation and then incentives are not required. So far at least, it’s working,” he said.
 
Shah added that there are certain markets globally that are seeing some noise (related to stress in EV demand) because of a lack of charging infrastructure. “At the same time there are markets globally where they’ve put in charging infrastructure, and Norway, for example, has 90% EVs today. And there’s EV growth in China as well due to the number of chargers that are available. The key benefit of EV from an India standpoint is that it has a direct impact on emissions and that will have major benefit for our cities that have a higher pollution level today. Second, it has a direct impact on the fuel costs which has an impact on the fuel bill that the country is concerned about even from a geopolitical standpoint,” he said.
 
Therefore, he adds, EV will be the game to play. India today is at 1.5% penetration of EVs. “We’ve got a long way to go. The starting point is launching products that are desirable. That hasn’t come to the India market yet. As that comes in, we start seeing a greater pull for EV. And that starts creating a demand,” he said.