Mahindra Powerol, a business unit of the $21-billion Mahindra Group, has forayed into building marine engines with its Seahawk Series to take on Chinese companies that have a majority share in this sector.

The engines, of power ranging between 24 hp and 300 hp, include 11 variants of engines and generators that power fishing boats, trawlers and small tugs.

The company had ventured into the marine sector in 2016 with engines designed at Mahindra Research Valley near Chennai. The engines were then tested for a year in various locations, said Sachin Nijhawan, Business Head, Powerol, Mahindra & Mahindra.

The annual demand for marine engines of 15-400 hp (costing ₹1.5-7 lakh) is around 3,000 units with Chinese companies having 60-70 per cent share. “We are now offering a 100 per cent ‘Made in India’ product and would like to take away a significant share from Chinese companies,” said M Senthilkumaran, General Manager, Industrial Applications, M&M.

Senthilkumaran said six Long Line Trawlers being built at Cochin Shipyard Ltd will be fitted with the Mahindra engines. These trawlers are being built under the ‘Blue Revolution’ deep-sea fishing scheme launched by the Centre in Rameshwaram last November.

Along with the Centre’s contribution of ₹200 crore, the Tamil Nadu government had also allotted ₹86 crore to the scheme. A total of 2,000 bottom-trawlers will be customised as long-liners at a cost of ₹1,621 crore in three phases.

In the first phase, of 16 customers, six fishermen in Rameshwaram selected Mahindra marine engines, said Senthilkumaran. “We hope hope to get good orders from the Tamil Nadu fishing community in Rameswaram under the Centre’s deep-sea fishing programme,” he said.

Mahindra Powerol is present in four categories — construction, fire-fighting pumps, buses, and marine engines. It has sold nearly 500 engines, each costing an average of ₹3 lakh. “We should multiply this quantity from now on,” he said.

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