M&M swims into marine engines business with Sea Hawk range

Setting up dealer networks in major fishing coastal towns, Mahindra & Mahindra Limited (M&M) is hoping to sell 500 marine/boat engines this fiscal, said a senior company official.

He also said the company hopes to get good orders from the Tamil Nadu fishing community for its engines in Rameswaram under the Central government's deep-sea fishing programme.

Launching a range of boat engines and marine gensets here under the brand Sea Hawk, Sachin Nijhawan, Business Head, Powerol Business said: "We now have engines ranging from 15 hp to 400 hp to straddle a wide segment of business needs."

Presently the market is catered majorly by Chinese makers but this is expected to reverse as M&M has set up dealer and service networks, he said.

Nijhawan said larger engines will be needed once riverine transport becomes big in the country.

Powerol is the diesel gensets/engines division of M&M catering to varied sectors and marine sector is the new being added to its portfolio.

For starters, the company is looking at government aided projects.

According to M. Senthilkumaran, General Manger-Industrial Applications, about 16 boats are being built in Cochin Shipyard for the fishermen in Rameswaram.

"As some boat owners have opted for our 180 hp engines. We expect there will be more demand as the market is largely driven by word-of-mouth," Senthilkumaran said.

He said the market for bigger engines is from replacement as boat owners fit a new engine after three years.

"About 500 new boats are made every year," he added.

Last year M&M sold about 150 engines, both small and big, and the target for the current year is about 500 engines.

--IANS

vj/mag/sed