Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Thursday swung back to profits in the second quarter ended September 2020. The country’s largest car maker posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,419.6 crore in the July-September period against Rs 1,391 crore a year ago on the back of higher sales.
In the previous April-July quarter, the company had reported its first quarterly loss since listing in 2003 after the coronavirus-led lockdown stopped sales.
However, the company missed analysts’ profit estimates in the second quarter as the carmaker was hit by higher costs of raw materials and tax expenses. Maruti, which sells every second car in the country, saw an 18.6 per cent jump in domestic car sales to 370,619 units. But total expenses rose 7.8 per cent and tax expenses spiked 76 per cent.
MSIL chairman R.C. Bhargava feels though the company expects “good” sales for the three months ending December, it was hard to predict demand after that as the impact of people wanting personal vehicle will be over by then.
