CHENNAI/NEW DELHI: Wheels India's Q2 net profit surged to Rs 59.4 crore, nearly doubling year-on-year, driven by strong revenue growth from earthmover wheels, air suspension, and exports.

The Chennai-based automotive wheels manufacturer had reported a net profit of Rs 30.9 crore in the year-ago period, a release said on Thursday. The company's revenue from operations increased 35.36% year-on-year to Rs 1,710.95 crore in the second quarter of the current fiscal, compared to Rs 1,263.97 crore in the year-ago period.

"The second quarter saw strong sales growth coming from earthmover wheels, air suspension and the domestic Indian markets for cars, trucks and tractors," said Wheels India chairman and managing director Srivats Ram.

Exports grew to Rs 388 crore from Rs 299 crore in the year-ago period. Srivats noted that demand sentiment in the overseas market has been positive with exports to the US growing by 50%.

"Interestingly, we benefitted from the AI and Data Centre boom. These are massive in the US and you need to dig to build. The surge in construction equipment also arose from that," he said. To a question, he said the company raised its capex for the financial year 2026-27 to Rs 400-450 crore.

Earlier, the company had earmarked Rs 300 crore as capex for the year. Annual capex has been around Rs 250 crore in the last two years. Wheels India also sees input cost inflation as a concern in the second half of FY27, amid rising steel and fuel costs, though it expects demand to be strong.

"While inflation is a concern with rising steel and fuel costs, most segments that we are in remain strong and we expect growth to continue. We are seeing some festive season build-up already and the demand is not bad," Srivats added.