Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services believes it has lost out on disbursement opportunities with OEMs unable to ramp up volumes due to supply chain glitches in the pandemic.

In a recent conference call, Ramesh Iyer, MD, said the company did see some buoyancy in tractors, cars , SUVs and pre-owned vehicles though this clearly was not enough to keep the momentum going. Even successful launches like the Thar are largely perceived as urban options which did not help the cause of Mahindra Finance. 

This is because it has a larger presence in rural and semi-urban markets compared to metros — the company has nearly 1,400 offices spread across 380,000 villages and 7,000 towns. 

Beyond the auto space where it caters to purchases a range of vehicles, Mahindra Finance also provides loans for construction equipment, used vehicles and project/equipment finance. It disbursed Rs 19,001 crore during FY2021, down 41 percent from Rs 32,381 crore in FY2020.

The auto/UV segment accounted for nearly 34 percent of disbursements in FY2021, up from 29 percent in FY2020 while the share of tractors also increased to 18 percent (15 percent in FY2020). Cars, likewise, were up to 21 percent. (FY2020: 19%) while commercial vehicles and construction equipment saw a steep fall to five percent. (FY2020: 17%) percent. Pre-owned cars were also down to 12 (FY2020: 16%)