At a time when industries across the world are navigating uncertainty and rapid change, Mahindra Group is positioning itself for faster growth with stronger businesses, future-ready technologies, resilient operations and a solid FY26 performance.
Even though the world faces uncertainty, the Mahindra Group views it with confidence. For the company, uncertainty is not only a challenge. It is also an opening to move faster, build stronger businesses and prepare for the next phase of growth.
That confidence stems from a strong FY26 performance. At the consolidated level, Mahindra reported a 42% rise in profit after tax for the quarter and a 32% increase for the full year. Revenue grew 29% in Q4 and 25% for the year. Besides, it is also linked to India’s larger growth story. Mr. Anish Shah, Group CEO & Managing Director, Mahindra Group, said the company sees three big drivers for the economy: consumption, infrastructure and reforms.
What makes the performance more important is that the growth did not come from one business alone. Auto, farm, financial services, real estate, logistics, technology services and several emerging businesses all contributed to the momentum, Mr. Shah said at a roundtable recently to announce FY26 and Q4FY26 results.
Stronger Core Businesses
The auto and farm businesses remained central to Mahindra’s performance. Auto volumes grew 19%, while margins improved by 80 basis points. The UV business continued to show strength, with volumes rising 20%.
Electric vehicles are also becoming a more visible part of Mahindra’s auto story. EV penetration has reached 9.6%, which the company sees as an encouraging start, though it believes the opportunity ahead is much larger.
The farm business also had a strong year, with volumes up 24% and margins improving by 150 basis points. Farm machinery grew 32%, showing that Mahindra’s farm play is moving beyond tractors into a wider rural mechanisation opportunity.
Finance Turns Around
Mahindra Finance had what the group called a breakthrough year as PAT was up 60%. Moreover, the business appears to have become healthier internally. With full adoption of the new system, Mahindra Finance has improved customer experience, internal efficiency and risk management. The company also plans to diversify into areas such as mortgages and SME lending, while positioning itself as “a lender of choice” for rural and semi-urban India.
Growth Gems Shine
Beyond its core businesses, Mahindra’s newer and smaller businesses are beginning to show stronger promise. Among them, the logistics business also saw an important turning point. “After 11 quarters of losses, it broke even not only in Q4 but for the full year as well,” he said, adding that this gives the business a stronger base for future growth. The truck and bus business has also moved forward after the SML acquisition. Integration is on track and, in some areas, the numbers are looking better than planned, Mr. Shah said.
India Growth Story
Mahindra’s confidence is also linked to India’s larger growth story. The company sees three big drivers for the economy: consumption, infrastructure and reforms.
India’s young population, rising incomes and growing base of affluent customers are expected to support consumption. At the same time, investments in roads, airports, rail electrification and digital infrastructure are creating a strong base for long-term growth. The group also sees free trade agreements as a major opportunity. While they may increase competition, the group believes strong Indian companies can use these agreements to grow faster and become more globally competitive.
“As we look ahead, despite all the challenges in the world around us, we see the Indian economy on a very strong footing, he mentioned. Therefore, the company expects India to remain on a strong growth path. If the economy grows at 6.4% annually over the next five years, it could add $2.4 trillion to GDP. “If India grows at 8%, and I feel it will likely grow at 8% for the next five years; on average, India will add close to $3 trillion of GDP,” he reiterated.
Built For Shocks
One of the strongest messages from Mr. Shah was resilience. The company has used the lessons of Covid and recent global supply chain shocks to build a more prepared organisation. The group now tracks supplier risks closely, even monitoring issues such as LPG availability and food availability for workers in some situations. It has studied more than ₹1,06,000 crore worth of purchases, covering around one lakh parts and 40 commodities, he highlighted.
From this exercise, the group identified 82-part families and nine commodities as high-risk areas. It has already taken steps such as increasing inventory, localising suppliers, developing alternate sources and redesigning some parts to reduce dependence. This detailed work has helped it face recent disruptions better and gives it confidence to grow even in uncertain times, he mentioned.
AI Becomes Real
Artificial intelligence is now becoming a key part of Mahindra’s next phase. The group says it has worked quietly on AI for two years and is now beginning to see a real impact. The company is using AI in three ways: small quick improvements, larger process transformation and new business invention.
In auto, AI is being used in areas such as customer interaction, test drive generation, paint shop quality, product development simulations and service support. During the XUV 7XO launch, AI helped generate 17,000 test drives by reaching out to interested customers in multiple languages.
In manufacturing, AI is helping the company improve quality and reduce wastage. In finance, it is being used for fraud detection, onboarding, collections and customer service. By FY27, Mahindra Finance expects AI to support ₹10,000 crore of incremental disbursements and assist 75% of live contract collections. The group is also setting up its new life insurance business with an “AI-first” approach, starting with processes such as claims and customer onboarding.
Responsible AI Push
Mahindra is clear that AI must be used responsibly. The company sees governance as the brake system that allows a car to go fast safely. Its focus is on ethical, responsible and secure use of AI. It has put governance systems in place at both group and business levels to ensure that AI improves customer value without creating risks.
Mr. Shah said the Mahindra AI Academy is also being used to train people, experiment with new use cases and reskill employees whose roles may change because of technology. The company says it does not expect AI to cause job losses within the group. Instead, it believes AI-led growth can create new opportunities.
“Across the auto division alone for this year our target is ₹4,100 crores of revenue, a two to three point uptick in customer satisfaction which is off a very high base already and a 10% reduction in time for new product development. That literally takes out a few months and helps us get products to market faster. And this is still what I would look at as initial results from AI,” he highlighted.
Future Growth Path
Looking ahead, Mahindra has set ambitious targets across businesses. The auto business is on track to grow revenue eight times over an 11-year period from FY20. The farm business is looking at three times revenue growth. Mahindra Finance is targeting five times growth in assets under management.
Tech Mahindra is on track with its FY27 goals, while the hospitality business plans to increase room inventory five times. Logistics revenue is expected to grow four times, last-mile mobility more than 10 times and trucks and buses four times.
Together, these targets show a group that is not only reporting strong numbers today but also building a wider platform for tomorrow. For the group, FY26 was not just a year of profit growth. It was a year of cleaner businesses, stronger systems, sharper technology and greater confidence.
