VECV Rides Light-duty Truck Surge and Shifting Export Corridors to Highest-ever Second-quarter Sales

VE Commercial Vehicles Ltd., the truck- and bus-making joint venture between Eicher Motors Ltd. and Sweden’s AB Volvo, reported a 37% jump in second-quarter net profit on Friday, buoyed by record vehicle dispatches, a 29% surge in engineering component sales and sustained fleet replacement demand across urban and rural India.

Net profit for the July–September quarter (Q2FY27) rose to Rs 341.6 crore, up from Rs 249.3 crore in the same period a year earlier, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer B. Srinivas told reporters during a post-earnings conference call. Revenue from operations increased 24% year-on-year to Rs 7,568.6 crore from Rs 6,105.8 crore.

"Revenue from operations rose 24% year on year, and profit after tax grew 37% over the same period, a result that reflects disciplined execution that overcame supply chain challenges and inflation pressures linked to the lingering West Asian crisis. During the quarter, we reaffirmed our commitment to deliver industry-leading uptime to Eicher truck and bus customers with the inauguration of our state-of-the-art Uptime Next Center in Pithampur,” Srinivas said in a press release.

Light-Duty Momentum and Second-Half Demand Outlook

VECV dispatched 28,071 vehicles during the second quarter, up 28.2% from 21,901 units a year earlier, marking its highest-ever second-quarter volume. That took cumulative first-half (April–September 2026) deliveries to 52,886 vehicles, a 21.5% increase over the prior year’s first half.

Monthly wholesale disclosures from the VECV Newsroom show that domestic Eicher-branded truck and bus dispatches climbed 32.2% year-on-year during the quarter to 25,638 units, accelerating from 7,575 units in July and 7,584 units in August to 10,479 units in September—before adding another 9,676 domestic units in October.

Responding to a question during the call on whether infrastructure spending is sustaining heavy-tonnage truck orders into the second half of the fiscal year, Srinivas said demand remains broad-based across geographies and payload categories, with light- and medium-duty (LMD) trucks slightly outpacing heavy-duty haulage.

"In H1, we have grown with a speed of 21.5%, and it is all across the segments, both light and medium duty and heavy-duty trucks. However, the traction is slightly more as far as the light and medium duty is concerned," Srinivas said. "However, the demand across rural, semi-urban and urban markets, as well as across all segments, is offering a great amount of growth opportunities. So at this point in time, our estimate is that the growth momentum of H1 will continue in H2 also."

Electric Pro X Milestone

In the small commercial vehicle (SCV) category, where VECV entered the 3- to 3.5-tonne segment in 2025 to compete in last-mile e-commerce and cold-chain logistics, cumulative sales of the Eicher Pro X range crossed 5,000 units during the quarter. Srinivas disclosed on the call that battery-electric variants accounted for more than a quarter of those initial dispatches.

"The recently launched Eicher Pro X crossed 5,000 in cumulative sales, reflecting encouraging customer acceptance and confidence in the Eicher brand. Of these, over 1,400 units are electric," Srinivas said.

At the top end of the passenger carrier market, Srinivas revealed that Volvo Buses India logged its highest-ever six-month volume as private intercity fleet operators upgraded to multi-axle sleeper and seater coaches. "Volvo Buses India delivered a record 422 units in the first half of the year and has announced significant orders from large operators as passengers move towards comfortable and safe buses," Srinivas said.

Export Realignment Amid West Asian Shipping Bottlenecks

While India’s overall commercial vehicle exports rose 72.5% in the July–September quarter, according to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) data, VECV’s Eicher-brand exports slipped 5.9% year-on-year in the second quarter to 1,715 units (470 in July, 578 in August and 667 in September), before rebounding 30% year-on-year to 911 units in October.

Asked during the call about geopolitical headwinds and container availability, Srinivas said that while specific overseas markets faced disruptions from the West Asian conflict, the shifting trade landscape had opened new export destinations across Africa, the Middle East and other emerging markets. "We are getting good traction, particularly in some of the African countries and our traditional markets where we are exporting. However, there is a change in the overall spectrum of exports. So it is actually providing new opportunities," Srinivas said, adding that VECV holds a "healthy order book with us, both in trucks and buses."

Pressed to elaborate on how the export order book is shifting, Srinivas said VECV is engineering market-specific variants across both steering configurations to capture post-crisis demand. "We find a lot of newer opportunities emerging post the current ongoing crisis," Srinivas said. "We are exploring the new markets which are coming up where, in terms of appreciation for the Indian products, both in terms of right-hand drive and also left-hand drive. At the same time, we are also coming up with some new products which are very exclusive to some of these markets in terms of overall customer value proposition."

Components Surge 29%, Ujjain AMT Plant on Schedule

Beyond whole vehicles, VECV’s non-vehicle industrial units posted sharp gains in the second quarter. Answering a query on the performance of Eicher Engineering Components and powertrain exports, Srinivas disclosed that the components vertical grew 29% year-on-year during the quarter, while Euro VI engine shipments from the VE Powertrain facility in Pithampur to Volvo Group hubs globally matched overall corporate growth.

"The component business is doing pretty well and it's growing at the speed of 29%, and there is a good amount of opportunities for all the businesses they are serving. The second one is the engine exports; even that business is performing quite well, in line with the overall growth, and the new projects of the other aggregates are also in line with our plans."

Srinivas also confirmed that construction of VECV’s greenfield Automated Manual Transmission (AMT) plant, a Rs 544-crore project at Vikram Udyogpuri near Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, licensed to manufacture Volvo Group’s 12-speed AMT for Asia-Oceania exports and Eicher heavy-duty trucks, remains on schedule. "The plant is going as per the plan at this point of time at our new site near Ujjain, with a capacity of 40,000 transmissions," Srinivas continued.