Maruti Suzuki India rode on launches to report an over two-fold jump in net profit at Rs 2,351.3 crore for the third quarter ended December 31.
The auto major had reported a net profit of Rs 1,011.3 crore in the October-December quarter of the previous fiscal, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) said in a regulatory filing.
Buoyed by the results, the shares of Maruti ended the day up 3.35 per cent at Rs 8,698.80 apiece on the BSE.
During the third quarter of 2022-23, the company said its net sales rose to Rs 27,849.2 crore against Rs 22,187.6 crore a year ago.
Maruti said the launch of the Grand Vitara and a new version of the Brezza helped it to improve its market share in the high-selling SUV segment.
Maruti said the shortage of electronic components impacted production by about 46,000 vehicles in the third quarter.
Maruti’s results are seen as a key indicator of private consumption in the country, with the auto sector carrying more than 50 per cent weightage in calculating the country’s economic growth.
Festive demand and improved availability of semiconductors pushed car sales up nearly 23 per cent across companies last quarter, the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers has said.
Maruti, majority owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, said vehicle sales rose to 465,911 units in the quarter from 430,668 units a year ago.
Sales at its biggest segment — compact cars like Baleno — rose almost 17 per cent, while sales of sport utility vehicles, which includes the Grand Vitara, rose almost 23 per cent.
Carmakers, including Maruti, took a hit during the pandemic when demand dwindled and a shortage of chips further hit their ability to build vehicles.
A return to a normalcy and some easing of the chip shortage has helped the company, which said it had about 363,000 pending orders, of which about 119,000 were for newly launched models.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation, or EBITDA, margins expanded to 9.75 per cent from 6.7 per cent, helped by the softening of commodity prices and improved price realisation or the money it received for every car sold.
Sales during the period stood at 14,51,237 units. Sales in the domestic market stood at 12,56,623 units while exports were at 1,94,614 units, it added.
A favourable foreign exchange rate and a higher non-operating income also lifted margins.
For the nine months ended December 31, 2022, the auto major reported a net profit of Rs 5,425.6 crore, over a two-fold increase, from Rs 1,927.4 crore reported in the April-December period of last fiscal.
With inputs from Reuters