Motherson Sumi Wiring India Ltd., a  dominant player in domestic wiring harness market, is navigating a short-term margin squeeze as it waits for commodity costs to reflect in its contracts. The company, which controls over 55% of the passenger vehicle wiring market and 25% plus in two-wheelers, is currently grappling with a "timing gap" between rising copper prices and customer reimbursements.

With copper accounting for roughly 10% of total revenue, management expects to recover about 60-70% of these costs within three months, while the remainder will take up to half a year to filter through the books, the company leadership noted during a meeting with Nuvama Research.

As per an IEA commentary from March 2, copper prices have surged to record highs this year, briefly exceeding USD 14 500 per tonne (intraday) in January 2026, having only passed USD 12 000 per tonne for the first time in December 2025. The unprecedented price levels have been driven by some important short-term developments, including supply disruptions at several major mines and a build-up of US copper inventories due to tariff uncertainty.

Despite these immediate headwinds, the fundamental outlook for the supplier is shifting into high gear. The automotive industry’s pivot toward electric vehicles (EVs) and larger utility vehicles is significantly increasing the content per vehicle or the total value of parts supplied to each car or bike.

In the passenger car segment, the transition to electric power increases wiring value by at least 1.7 times compared to traditional petrol engines. The impact is even more pronounced in the two-wheeler market, where the wiring value for electric scooters jumps three-fold as the loss of engine wiring harness would be more than offset by the addition of motor, charging, auxiliaries, traction and battery harnesses.

The company is also benefiting from a premiumization trend in the Indian market. As consumers swap hatchbacks for Utility Vehicles (UVs), the amount of wiring required increases by as much as 1.5 times. To capture this growth, Motherson is leveraging its technical partnership with Japan’s Sumitomo, focusing on advanced components including gateways, body ECUs and junction boxes along with solutions for hybrids and EVs.  MSUMI is focusing on strengthening its presence with 30 facilities to support demand from customers for ICE, hybrid and EV wiring harnesses, the company leadership noted.

Furthermore, the company highlighted there to a marked improvement is expected in greenfield utilization levels from 45% (Q3FY26) to 65–70% (FY27E), due to higher production at Navagam (Gujarat) and Pune (Maharashtra) plants. Navagam plant production is improving due to successful launch of a new model by key OEM and another model is scheduled for Q2FY27 launch.

Additionally, the Pune plant production is gradually improving due to pick up in production of models for a key OEM. Lastly, Kharkhoda plant (Haryana) production volumes are ramping up in line with plans. This should drive an EBITDA turnaround in FY27. In FY28, further ramp-up of utilization levels is likely.