Maruti Suzuki India Limited said on Wednesday it plans to set up a new plant with a capacity to make 10 lakh units a year. This is in addition to the one that is being built at Kharkhoda in Haryana which will also produce 10 lakh units a year.

“We have kept the phasing of new capacity additions open, to adjust to market demand as needed. We don’t want to be caught napping when the market develops further,” Maruti chairman R.C. Bhargava said at an earnings call after the company announced its fourth quarter results.

The company reported a 42 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,671 crore in the fourth quarter ended March, driven by higher sales, improved realisation and favourable forex movement. The country’s largest carmaker logged a net profit of Rs 1,876 crore in the January-March of 2021-22.

Maruti at present has capacity to produce over 20 lakh cars — at Manesar, Gurgaon and the vehicles supplied by the contract manufacturing unit at Sanand.

The Kharkhoda plant, which is spread across 800 acres, is expected to start production of 2.5 lakh units per annum by 2025 and can be expanded up to 10 lakh units.

“The work on the new plant will be carried on simultaneously with Kharkhoda,” Bhargava said.

“Kharkhoda is, of course, ahead of the new plant wherever it will be.”

Maruti’s net sales during the fourth quarter rose to Rs 32,060 crore compared with Rs 26,749 crore in the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing.

For the entire 2022-23, MSI posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 8,211 crore against Rs 3,879 crore in 2021-22.

Net sales last fiscal stood at Rs 1,17,571 crore against Rs 88,330 crore in 2021-22.

In the fourth quarter, the company said it sold 5.14 lakh vehicles, higher by 5.3 per cent year-on-year.

In 2022-23, the company sold 19.66 lakh vehicles, despite missing production of about 1.7 lakh units because of a shortage of electronic components.

Bhargava said the company performed better than last year despite witnessing various challenges such as chip shortage, high commodity prices and inflation.

The company’s board recommended the highest-ever dividend of Rs 90 per share compared with Rs 60 per share in 2021-22.

Shares of the company on Wednesday closed 0.26per cent up at Rs 8,503.15 apiece on the Bombay Stock Exchange.