Mahindra net profit up 6 percent on new SUVs, truck sales

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd , India's top-selling utility vehicle maker, on Monday reported a 6 percent rise in quarterly net profit helped by strong sales of its newly-launched SUVs, and rising demand for trucks as the domestic economy slowly recovers.

Mahindra's standalone net profit for the three months ended March 31 rose to 5.84 billion rupees ($87 million), from 5.51 billion a year earlier, but fell short of analyst expectations of 6.45 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Net sales rose about 15 percent to 106.7 billion rupees.

Mahindra, India's top tractor maker, said that while sentiment in rural India was subdued during the quarter, the company expects rural demand to pick up pace in coming quarters on expectations of a robust monsoon for the year.

($1 = 67.3200 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Sunil Nair)