Financial Health Assessment of Selected Automobile Manufacturers in India: Z-score Analysis

This paper examines the financial health and bankruptcy risk of ten manufacturers of passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, two-wheelers, and three-wheelers within the Indian automobile industry, which are listed and actively traded in the Indian stock exchanges, using the Altman Z-score modelof 1968 over the 15 years from 2010-11 to 2024-25.The study shows healthy Z-scores for Hero MotoCorp Ltd., Bajaj AutoLtd., Atul Auto Ltd., TVS Motors Ltd., and Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., reflecting strong financial health with high average z scores falling into safe zone, whereas the Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland, SML Isuzu Ltd., and Force Motors Ltd. experienced grey and distress phases around cyclical slowdowns and the pandemic with low average Z scores falling into grey zone.However,improvements have been noticed from the year 2023-24 onwards, and all companies are found within the safe zone,indicating no bankruptcy risk in the near future.