Mahindra Powerol enters marine engine biz, eyes 10% revenue from segment

Mahindra Powerol, a $20.7 billion business unit of the Mahindra Group, has officially entered the marine engine business with the commercial launch of products in Chennai.

The company seeks to capture 30 per cent of the high-powered, 100-300 horsepower engine market in the next 12-24 months. The company is also expecting around 10 per cent of its revenues to come from the marine engine business over the next three years, said Sachin Nijhawan, Business Head, Mahindra Powerol.

Smaller engines ranging from 50 to 100 HP constitute a market of about 20,000 units, while those above 100 HP make up a 2,500-3,000 unit market. Higher powered engines are priced at around Rs 150,000-700,000 each.

The company has engines ranging from 24 HP to 300 HP, including 11 variants of marine engines and marine generators.

"At present, most of the market is unorganised and dominated by low=-priced Chinese products. However, there are concerns about their life and fuel efficiency and customers are now looking at durable and fuel-efficient products," said Nijhawan.

He said that the company, which registered a revenue of over Rs 4.3 billion last year, is preparing business plans for the next few years and the estimates are that the marine engine business would contribute around 10 per cent of the revenue in two to three years. The company has also appointed 11 dealers in various coastal areas to take the products to boat makers and other customers.

The company's Seahawk engines are designed for fuel efficiency, technology and a tracking system for safety and service alerts. The company has set up exclusive sales, service and spares dealers in coastal areas.

Mahindra Powerol Marine & Industrial Engines, designed at the company's Chennai R&D facility to suit the application requirement, and manufactured at state-of-the-art facilities in Pune and Nagpur, are available in 15-400 HP. These engines cater to 25 types of applications including concrete mixers, concrete pumps, compactors and loaders.

The Powerol Industrial Engine group is ready with its BS-IV CEV range of engines as well. These engines have been designed and tested in the factory and on the field for best-in-class performance and fuel efficiency, which is the result of optimum design of after-treatment components.

The company entered the field of power generation in 2001-02. Between fiscal 2002 and FY18, the business has grown exponentially to become a Rs 14 billion business. Today, engines from Mahindra Powerol are used in diesel generating sets ranging from 5kVA to 625 kVA.