BENGALURU - India's Mahindra Logistics Ltd reported a swing to a fourth-quarter net loss on Monday against a profit a year ago, dented by higher operating expenses in a weak-demand environment.

The logistics arm of Mahindra Group logged a consolidated net loss after tax of 8.2 million rupees (around $100,000) for the three months ended March 31, compared with a profit of 74 million rupees a year ago.

Total expenses climbed 18% to 12.81 billion rupees with operating expenses jumping 15.7%.

Third-party logistics providers such as Mahindra Logistics are facing a challenging demand environment due to softness in e-commerce movements and consumer durable segments, analysts said.

The supply chain management segment, which contributes more than 90% to the company's revenues, nosedived to a loss of 37 million rupees from a profit of 639.7 million rupees a year ago.

The enterprise mobility services segment also reported a loss of 9.3 million rupees, down from a profit of 10.4 million rupees a year ago.

Mahindra Logistics, which competes with firms such as Delhivery, had flagged demand weakness at its investor conference in February and had expected the trend to continue till December 2023.

Revenue from operations increased 16.9% to 12.73 billion rupees.

Shares closed 1.3% down ahead of results on Monday and were down 25.3% year-to-date.

($1 = 81.9040 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Meenakshi Maidas and Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)