M&M hikes passenger, commercial vehicle prices

Mahindra & Mahindra, India's top utility vehicle maker, has increased prices of its passenger and commercial vehicles by an average 1 percent effective this month to offset rising input costs, the company said on Tuesday.

The increase will be in the range of Rs 2,300 (USD 37) to Rs 11,500 rupees (USD 187) depending on the model, it said in a statement to the stock exchange.

"We have been holding back on price hikes for a while but now it has been necessitated to partly offset the impact of rising input costs," said Pravin Shah, chief executive, automotive division & international operations at Mahindra.

The company, part of the USD 17 billion Mahindra Group, has also increased the price of its tractors by between Rs 6,000 (USD 97) and Rs 10,000 (USD 162) to offset an increase in commodity prices and conversion costs.