Mahindra bets on SML acquisition; eyes 10-12% CV market share by FY31

Mahindra & Mahindra is betting that its acquisition of SML Isuzu will provide the scale, portfolio breadth and service reach needed to accelerate growth in India’s above-3.5-tonne commercial-vehicle market, with the seven-product Blazo i-TRK marking the first major product move since the deal.

The financial ambition is to more than double combined truck-and-bus revenue from close to ₹6,000 crore now to ₹12,500 crore by FY31, Vinod Sahay, President, Trucks & Buses; Executive Chairman, SML Mahindra; and member of the Mahindra Group Executive Board, told businessline.

“Many of the scale challenges which were headwinds for us start becoming our tailwind,” Sahay said, pointing to benefits across sourcing, product development, manufacturing and distribution as the two businesses come together.

The businesses had combined FY26 revenue of about ₹5,827 crore — ₹2,989 crore from Mahindra Truck and Bus Division (MTBD) and about ₹2,838 crore from SML. They sold 9,389 vehicles in Q1 FY27, up 11 per cent year-on-year, with a combined truck-and-bus market share of 7.8 per cent.

Mahindra aims to raise its share of the above-3.5-tonne market to 10-12 per cent by FY31, from around 6 per cent when the SML acquisition was announced, and cross 20 per cent by FY36.

M&M acquired 58.96 per cent of SML Isuzu for ₹555 crore in August 2025 and has since approved the transfer of MTBD to SML Mahindra for ₹525 crore. The transaction, which will place the group’s truck-and-bus operations under a focused entity, is targeted for completion by January 31, 2027, subject to approvals.

SML brings strength in buses and light and intermediate commercial vehicles, while Mahindra contributes heavy trucks along with technology, sourcing and product-development capabilities.

Sahay expects the combination to lower sourcing costs, improve value engineering and reduce duplicated product-development expenditure. Platforms and aggregates can be shared, while manufacturing can be optimised across SML’s Ropar and Mahindra’s Chakan facilities.

Mahindra intends to retain both brands, initially using cross-badging to plug portfolio gaps before progressively sharing platforms and aggregates.

Service reach has effectively doubled as the brands can support each other’s products, addressing a key constraint Mahindra faced in expanding its heavy-truck business.

The combined network has about 200 dealers and 650 touchpoints. Mahindra plans to add 20-25 dealerships and 50-60 service stations over the next 18 months.

The Q1 sales mix shows both SML’s contribution and Mahindra’s remaining challenge. Passenger-carrier volumes rose 20 per cent to 5,939 units, helped by SML’s bus franchise, while cargo volumes slipped 1 per cent to 3,450.