Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) posted lower revenue and profit in FY25, but the gross margin remained firm despite the downturn. Revenue slipped to Rs 10,430.9 crore from Rs 11,792.3 crore in FY24, while net profit fell to Rs 168.9 crore from Rs 1,787.3 crore, filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs show.
The company’s gross margin inched up to 26.4% from 26.2%, but the operating margin eased to 5.7% from 6.3%, and the net margin fell to 1.6% from 14.8%.
The company sold 22,356 units in India during 2025, a slight increase from 21,434 in 2024, according to Daimler Truck's annual report for 2025.
DICV, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daimler Truck AG, Germany, is a full-fledged commercial vehicle player in India with a brand dedicated to its home market: BharatBenz. DICV produces and sells trucks from 9 to 55 tons, as well as BharatBenz buses and bus chassis. DICV’s state-of-the-art manufacturing plant at Oragadam near Chennai spreads over 400 acres (160 hectares) including a test track and houses the company’s headquarters, R&D, and training operations. It also produces Daimler Trucks’ brands Mercedes-Benz and Freightliner. Products and parts are exported to more than 70 markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East. DICV has made an overall investment of more than Rs 9,560 crore.
Effective January 01, 2025, Daimler Truck Group integrated its China and India businesses from the Trucks Asia segment into the Mercedes Benz segment. This formed one global Mercedes-Benz Trucks segment. This reorganization does not affect the Trucks Asia segment's other activities, nor the Trucks North America, Daimler Buses and Financial Services segments.
Furthermore, Daimler Truck AG, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corporation (Mitsubishi Fuso), Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) and Hino Motors Ltd. (Hino) signed definitive agreements on June 10, 2025, regarding the planned integration of Mitsubishi Fuso and Hino.
According to company documents, during FY25, the company invested Rs 211 Crore in R&D. This represented 2.02% of its total turnover for the year, indicating a continued push to localize global technologies for the Indian market. The BharatBenz brand introduced models in the Indian market with PowerShift 3 automatic transmissions, which proved significantly more economical in customer trials. The BharatBenz brand is capitalizing on the country's dynamic infrastructure growth and has further expanded its nationwide dealer network. Company documents reveal that the markets in India for (> 9 tons) grew by 7% as the country's economy clocked 7.5% growth in 2025.
Additionally, since the beginning of August, DICV has offered the new BharatBenz HX series, which is further tailored to meet the specific needs of customers in India’s growing construction and mining segment. The series includes two heavy-duty truck models: the 2828C HX and the 3532C HX. DICV has tested all new models in extensive customer trials at India's demanding construction and mining sites. Tests with various customers and more than 150 vehicles demonstrated significant improvement in operational efficiency.
There was also a focus on adapting the OM460 engine for demanding applications to ensure higher power and torque delivery. Likewise, for construction vehicles, these efforts significantly reduced customer downtime by optimizing designs to extend oil drain intervals from 850 hours to 1200 hours.