Mumbai, Feb 18 (IANS) As electric car major Tesla ramped up hiring in India after the successful meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Elon Musk in the US last week, Mahindra & Mahindra said on Tuesday that the country has the ability to not only manufacture EVs at scale but also at a lower cost.
Unfazed about the potential entry of Tesla into the Indian market this year, M&M Ltd Managing Director and CEO Anish Shah said their “products speak for themselves”.
Speaking at the NDTV Profit Conclave in Mumbai, he further stated that their “EVs are entirely manufactured in India”.
Shah’s remarks came after Tesla signalled its India entry plans by advertising at least 13 job roles in the country on its LinkedIn profile. Most of the Tesla jobs will be based in Mumbai and Delhi.
On the question on how it will compete with the entry of major foreign players, Shah said at the event: “Our teams have been able to show that we can manufacture at strength and compete globally.”
According to him, other Indian manufacturers have also stepped up to the challenge posed by their global counterparts.
“The strength and resilience shown by domestic manufacturers provides an opportunity for India to emerge as a manufacturing hub,” he mentioned.
The fundamentals of the Indian market remain “very strong” and “there are a number of positives today that our economy didn’t have in the last 30 years”.
India is “well-positioned” and “rural India has seen growth coming back already,” Shah said, adding that he expects this momentum to continue in the next year as well.
Commenting on the jitters in the global market over the US trade tariff policies, Shah said India will be a “net gainer”, given the positive bilateral relations with the US.
In Q3 FY25, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 3,180.58 crore in Q3 — a 19.64 per cent increase from Rs 2,658.40 crore in the same quarter last year (Q3 FY24).
The company’s strong earnings were primarily driven by strong demand for its sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and tractors.
“Our businesses continue to demonstrate strength in execution. Auto and farm delivered solid performance on market share and margins, on the back of focused execution,” said Shah.