M&M takes measures to Up Sales

Utility vehicle maker Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) Ltd. is planning to drive on rural markets to push its latest pick up Mahindra Bolero Maxi
Truck. M&M vice-president (automotive sales) said the company plans a deeper reach in the rural markets to enhance its sales. Since in this segment, 80 per cent of the revenue in this segment comes from rural markets and with 85 per cent of the market share, they are certainly the market leader in the pick up category for now.We want to strengthen our rural presence to enhance our revenue portfolio. We are increasing our dealers from existing 450 to 600 by the end of this fiscal, he said.

The company also wants to focus on providing better post sales services. We are working out a plan to increase our touch points. We want to be present every 50 kms. For this, we are planning to use the existing vast network of Mahindra Group companies, besides launching new touch points, he said. The company, in the last fiscal, sold 47,500 units. It grew at 5 percent in the pick up category, a per cent more than the industry's growth rate of 4 per cent. In the first quarter of this fiscal when the pick up segment grew at 23 per cent, M&M achieved 26 per cent growth. The industry growth is likely to be in the range of 11-12 percent while we expect to end this fiscal with a growth of 15 per cent in the pick up segment, Kapoor said.

Nationalised banks like SBBJ, BoB, SBI, PNB comprise 30 per cent ofour auto loan portfolio. Mahindra Finance and other NBFCs contribute 30 per cent and 33 per cent respectively. And just bare minimum of 7 per cent will be paid by customers in cash. Slashing of the interest rates on auto loan from average 18 per cent last fiscal to 12.5 per cent this year has also contributed to the growth in the sales. The company focus lies on easy financing to increase sales. It has tied up with leading nationalized banks and NBFCs for easy processing of auto loans.