Mahindra & Mahindra sales skid 42% to 32,476 in February, exports down 40%

Auto major Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) on Sunday reported a 42 per cent decline in total sales at 32,476 units in February.

The company had sold 56,005 units in the same month last year, M&M said in a statement.

In the domestic market, sales were down 42 per cent to 30,637 units last month as compared with 52,915 units in February 2019.

Exports dropped 40 per cent to 1,839 units as compared with 3,090 units in the year-ago month.

In the passenger vehicles segment, which includes utility vehicles, cars and vans, M&M sold 10,938 vehicles in February this year as against 26,109 vehicles in the same month last year, a decline of 58 per cent.

Commercial vehicles sales fell 25 per cent to 15,856 units as against 21,154 units a year ago.

In the medium and heavy commercial vehicles segment, M&M sold 436 vehicles during the month as against 686 units in the year-ago month.

"The ramp-down of BS-IV vehicle production has been in line with our plan for February. However, because of the unforeseeable challenges on the parts-supply from China, our BS VI ramp-up has been affected," Veejay Ram Nakra, Chief of Sales and Marketing, Automotive Division, M&M Ltd said.

This has resulted in a high de-growth in billing volume for February and dealer inventory is now under 10 days, he said.

"Going into March, we anticipate the challenge on parts-supply to continue for another few weeks, before we get back to normalcy," he added.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Ford Motor joint venture gets approval from CCI

The Competition Commission has approved Mahindra & Mahindra's acquisition of majority stake in a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Co, which will create a joint venture in the country.

In October last year, M&M said it would buy 51 per cent stake in Ardour Automotive Pvt Ltd for around Rs 657 crore.

In a tweet on Monday, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) said it has approved "formation of JV between Mahindra & Mahindra and Ford Motor and transfer of automotive business of Ford India to the JV".

The remaining stake of 49 per cent in Ardour Automotive would be held by Ford Motor Co and/ or any of its affiliates.

The new venture would acquire the automotive business of Ford India Pvt Ltd (FIPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Co.

The automotive business includes vehicle manufacturing plants of Ford India in Chennai and Sanand.

M&M announces board rejig, Anand Mahindra to be non-executive chairman

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) on Friday announced a rejig of its top management with Anand Mahindra, 64, transiting to the role of non-executive chairman from executive chairman, effective 1 April, 2020.

In a statement, the firm said Pawan Kumar Goenka has been re-appointed the managing director with additional responsibilities of chief executive officer (CEO) for a year, effective 1 April, 2020.

The company has created the CEO position as it aims to implement its plans around electric mobility and capitalise on the synergies with Ford's India operations in the near future.

Further, Anish Shah will transition to become Managing Director and CEO on April 2, 2021, replacing Goenka, who will retire after his term ends.

Shah will join M&M board as Deputy Managing Director and Group CFO, replacing VS Parthasarathy, the current CFO.

Parthasarathy will head the mobility services sector, which is a new sector being created by combining the after-market sector, Mahindra Logistics and Auto Mobility Services.