Cummins India just posted a rise in sales and a drop in profits. Wall Street will nod. Investors will shrug. The press will reheat the numbers. But if you pull back the curtain, the picture looks a little different.
Sales rose 6.4 percent. Profits slipped 1.7 percent. A modest dip, they’ll say, explained away by raw material costs and currency jitters. But here’s what they won’t say. The workers who built those “eco-friendly” generators are paid a fraction of what their American or European counterparts earn. And the factories are often tucked far from cameras or compliance.
Cummins now makes 40 percent of its Indian sales from CPCB IV+ generators. Cleaner, greener, more expensive. A nice pivot that lets them boast about sustainability while squeezing margins out of low-cost manufacturing. They hiked the prices and leaned on government infrastructure projects to float demand. The image they’re selling is one of innovation and responsibility. But the numbers tell another story.
Expenses jumped over 9 percent. Raw material costs surged nearly 17 percent. The cost of looking green is rising. And Cummins, with its sprawling global footprint, is feeling the pinch. Yet the brand doesn’t blink. It trades on legacy and reinvention. It talks equity while its own house cracks under scrutiny.
In the US, Cummins pulled its annual forecast, spooked by tariffs and trade volatility. In India, it’s business as usual. Pay less. Sell more. Stay quiet.
They’ll say the future is bright. That Cummins India is well-positioned for growth. What they mean is the margins are still there if you look in the right places. Places where no one asks too many questions. Where cheap labour props up clean tech and the real emissions are buried in the fine print.
So while the PR machine celebrates integrated powertrains and emission-compliant milestones, here’s what they won’t say. Even with rising sales, they couldn’t squeeze out more profit unless you count the reputational profits from selling a greener image abroad while burying ethical failures at home.
Because the real product isn’t the generator. It’s the story they’re selling with it.
Lee Thompson
Founder, The Cummins Accountability Project