Mahindra & Mahindra and DBS Bank India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to launch India’s first sustainability-linked dealer financing programme in the automotive sector, offering authorised Mahindra dealers preferential interest rates on vehicle loans tied to their environmental performance.
Under the programme, dealers will be ranked against a set of ESG parameters drawn from Mahindra’s Green Dealership Programme. These include greenhouse gas emissions monitoring, water consumption, renewable energy use, rainwater harvesting, waste management, availability of public EV charging facilities, and the volume of eSUVs sold. Dealers that meet defined thresholds on these metrics — alongside sales targets — will receive commercial benefits on loans used to purchase passenger and commercial vehicles from the manufacturer.
The ESG metrics were jointly designed by Mahindra and DBS Bank India. The programme is structured to address Scope 3 emissions — those generated across a company’s value chain rather than directly by the company itself — by drawing dealer networks into the broader decarbonisation effort.
Decarbonisation efforts
Nalinikanth Gollagunta, CEO of Mahindra’s Automotive Division, said the programme would extend the company’s decarbonisation efforts to its dealer network and support India’s wider sustainability goals. Divyesh Dalal, Managing Director and Country Head – Global Transaction Services, Corporate Banking – Financial Institutions and SMEs at DBS Bank India, described the initiative as providing practical tools to decarbonise the dealer network at scale.
The launch aligns with Mahindra’s position in the 2026 S&P Global Sustainability Yearbook and India’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution targets under the Paris Agreement, which commit the country to net-zero emissions by 2070. DBS Bank India was named Best Bank for Sustainable Finance in India by Global Finance in 2024 and has been recognised as Best Bank for Corporate Banking in India by Crisil Coalition Greenwich in both 2025 and 2026.