Mahindra & Mahindra may soon increase the prices of its vehicles if input costs continue to grow. Mr Pawan Goenka, the President of M&M’s Automotive Division, said that the company would try to absorb the input costs and not hike prices in the third quarter, but that it would have to do it later if the rise in input costs was as high as last year’s. M&M’s profit margin in the July-September quarter was 18.2 per cent – its best in many years, but the company will not be able to sustain it if rubber and steel prices are not contained. Mr Goenka also said that profit margins would go down if the government’s economic stimulus was withdrawn.
Meanwhile, Mahindra’s pilot project with an NGO called Earth 100, introduced over two years ago, is going on track. The project involves the development of vehicles running on 100 per cent bio-diesel.
