How to pay for a robotic palletizer in Mexico: purchase, finance lease or operating lease

6.25%. That is where Banco de México, the central bank, has left its target rate since November 6, 2026 (announcement of November 5, in Spanish). The banks and programs we reviewed keep their own rate for the quote, so that is the public number where the conversation about how to pay for a robotic palletizer in Mexico begins.

Target Robotics builds the palletizer; the loan or the lease is arranged separately, with a bank or a leasing company, and you apply with the machine quote in hand. There are three routes: purchase, finance lease (arrendamiento financiero) and operating lease (arrendamiento puro). Below is what each bank publishes, with dates, and how the law treats each route, with the article cited so you can go over it with your accountant. This text does not constitute tax advice.

How to pay for a robotic palletizer: the three routes

The references are Mexico’s Income Tax Law (Ley del ISR), the Federal Tax Code (Código Fiscal de la Federación, or CFF) and the VAT Law, read on November 13, 2026 on the website of the Chamber of Deputies, all in Spanish.

In a purchase, the investment is deducted in parts: each year, a maximum percentage of the original amount (Income Tax Law, Article 31). For machinery, Article 35 sets 8% in food and beverage production (5% in grain milling, sugar and edible oils), 9% in chemicals, rubber and plastics, and 10% in the activities the article leaves unspecified. At 8% a year, a machine finishes being deducted in 12 and a half years (Target Robotics calculation: 100 divided by 8).

The Plan México immediate deduction brings that math forward for new assets: 67% in 2026 and 62% from 2027 to 2030 for food and beverage, with a certificate (constancia) from the Evaluation Committee and at least two years of use (DOF, Mexico’s official gazette, January 21, 2025). The full math is in Plan México immediate deduction.

In a finance lease you pay for the equipment in installments and decide what to do with it when the contract ends. The CFF requires that contract to be in writing and to state the value of the asset and the agreed interest rate, or the mechanism to determine it (Article 15). Ask for the value of the asset and the rate in writing before comparing one monthly payment with another.

On the operating lease, BBVA Leasing writes that you pay for the use of the asset only, without paying its total cost. It also advertises tax benefits on rent, without detailing them. The Income Tax Law lists expenses among the deductions (Article 25, fraction III) and requires them to be strictly indispensable for the company’s activity (Article 27, fraction I).

The general VAT rate is 16% on all three routes and the tax is triggered as each payment is collected. The law says so for the sale of goods (VAT Law, Article 11), which includes the finance lease (CFF, Article 14, fraction IV), and for the temporary use of goods (Article 22). In a purchase, that concentrates the VAT in the payments of the price; in the two leases it spreads it across each installment. On a loan and on a finance lease, interest has its own rule in the VAT Law: ask your accountant for the VAT on each payment before comparing monthly payments.

What does each bank and program publish?

Checked November 13, 2026, except where another date is given.

Nafin (Nacional Financiera) and Bancomext are Mexico’s federal development banks. Their figures come from Expansión (October 14, 2026) and El Imparcial (September 10, 2026), which report what was presented at the federal government’s morning press conference on September 10. “Mi primer crédito” (my first loan) is processed at Banamex, Banorte, Banregio, BBVA and Mifel, according to Expansión. The SilverBlue item is from Milenio (July 9, 2026): there Nafin funds the leasing company and your business deals with it.

BBVA states that the leased asset is the bank’s property for the life of the contract. Since no source publishes its rate, ask more than one bank for a quote and compare the total cost of the contract.

On size: a US$100,000 cell, the reference this site’s calculator uses, comes to MXN 1,850,000 at 18.5 pesos to the dollar, the exchange rate Tetakawi uses for October 2026. That amount clears BBVA’s minimum and fits under the caps of the three loans. Expansión counts as medium-sized a company with 31 to 250 employees depending on the sector, with sales of MXN 100 to 250 million.

What does the Banxico rate mean for your monthly payment?

On November 5, 2026, the Governing Board of Banco de México cut the target for the overnight interbank interest rate by 25 basis points, to 6.25%, effective November 6. In the same announcement it considers that keeping the rate at that level for a prolonged period will support the convergence of inflation to its target.

The rate on your contract comes from your credit file and from whether you choose fixed or variable; BBVA offers both. If you choose variable, ask which reference it is tied to and how often it gets reviewed: the next Banxico decision is on December 17 (El CEO, November 5, 2026, in Spanish).

To see how much each point moves, this is the monthly payment on MXN 1,850,000 financed at 100%, with level payments and before VAT, fees and insurance (Target Robotics calculation with assumptions; the rates in the table are working assumptions and no bank publishes them):

In BBVA’s finance lease, the purchase option of 1% of the invoice is added at the end: MXN 18,500 in this example.

Compare that payment with what the line frees up. With 2 people per shift, at MXN 14,000 to MXN 19,000 per person per month (where that cost comes from) and 71% fewer operators, the average goal of the palletizing projects HowToRobot analyzed (March 27, 2026), payroll savings run MXN 59,640 to MXN 80,940 a month at 3 shifts and MXN 19,880 to MXN 26,980 on one shift (Target Robotics calculation with those assumptions). At 3 shifts with 2 people per shift, payroll savings land above every monthly payment in the table; on one shift they land below all of them.

The full payback table is in when a robotic palletizer pays off, and your case goes in the payback calculator. If the machine is quoted in dollars and the loan is in pesos, ask at what exchange rate the value of the asset gets fixed; BBVA Leasing offers rent in pesos or in dollars.

Does the Plan México deduction apply if you lease?

The January 21, 2025 decree refers to new fixed assets acquired through September 30, 2030 and requires keeping them in use for at least two years. In its text, the word arrendamiento (lease) appears zero times (search on November 13, 2026). The Income Tax Law, for its part, treats the finance lease as an investment by the lessee (Article 38).

Before putting a lease and the immediate deduction in the same calculation, get the answer in writing from your accountant. In an operating lease the equipment belongs to the lessor and your company pays rent: there the question for the accountant is who applies the incentive.

The laws cited were read on the website of the Chamber of Deputies, where the Income Tax Law shows April 1, 2024 as its latest amendment. Confirm before signing that nothing has changed.

What does the bank ask for, and how long does it take?

BBVA lists for its finance lease:

• Credit application and information on the asset to be leased.
• Audited financial statements for the last fiscal year, and internal ones no more than three months old.
• Authorization to check the credit bureau record of the company and of its main shareholder.
• Articles of incorporation, powers of attorney, RFC tax ID, proof of address and identification.

No source reviewed publishes how long approval takes. Target Robotics’ lead time is 12 weeks, and opening the file at the bank the same day you ask for the quote keeps the financing from arriving after the machine.

The information on the asset comes from the quote. The Income Tax Law counts installation, assembly, freight and the services contracted to make the investment work as part of the original amount of the investment (Article 31). Ask the lessor whether its contract finances those line items or only the equipment. The checklist for comparing quotes separates them one by one, and the reference prices for a cell are in robotic palletizer price.

Which route to look at first, depending on your plant

The third row comes from what BBVA Leasing publishes as an advantage of renting: it avoids the risks of obsolescence, renewal and replacement of assets. The others follow the conditions in the bank table.

For the first meeting with the bank, bring four things: the quote with the value of the equipment, the lead time, your financial statements and the math on how much the line frees up per month. Ask for two in return, in writing: the rate and the total cost of the contract.