India's Mahindra and Mahindra reports surge in quarterly profit\r
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BENGALURU :Indian automaker Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd reported a 57per cent jump in third-quarter profit on Thursday, boosted by higher revenues that offset an increase in costs due to supply chain disruptions and semiconductor shortages.\r
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The company, chaired by Indian billionaire Anand Mahindra, said it also saw a sharp rise in exports of automobiles and tractors in the October-December quarter. Carmakers are seeing a pickup in demand compared to pandemic-hit 2021, but production has come under pressure from a global chip shortage and rising commodity prices. Several major Indian carmakers raised prices last year to pass on some of the excess costs to customers.\r
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"Our auto business has done well despite supply side challenges, while our farm business has shown market share increase despite a slowdown in the market," Anish Shah, managing director at Mahindra said in a statement to the stock exchange.\r
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Mahindra's revenue from the auto sector grew 15per cent during the reported quarter and it said the auto business was continuing to see a strong booking pipeline with more than 155,000 pending orders for its vehicles.\r
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Consolidated net profit from continuing operations rose to 19.87 billion rupees ($265.11 million) for the quarter ended Dec. 31, from 12.68 billion rupees a year ago.\r
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Last month, rival Maruti Suzuki India said it expected the chip crisis to ease, but higher commodity prices remained a concern.\r
Source: CNA