The country’s largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India on Tuesday reported a 47.82 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 1,041.8 crore in the third quarter ended December 2021, on account of lower sales due to the ongoing semiconductor shortage and an increase in commodity prices.

Shares of the company rose nearly 7 per cent to close at Rs 8,600.60 on the BSE as the results beat estimates.

The auto major had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,996.7 crore in the October-December period of last fiscal, Maruti Suzuki India said in a regulatory filing. The fall in net profit during the period under review was due to lower sales volume, high commodity prices and lower non-operating income on account of mark-to-market impact.

Consolidated revenue from operations declined marginally to Rs 23,253.3 crore in the third quarter compared with Rs 23,471.3 crore in the year-ago period, it added. Total vehicle sales were down 13.1 per cent to 4.3 lakh units in the third quarter against 4.9 lakh units a year ago.

Maruti noted that its production during the third quarter was constrained by a global shortage in the supply of electronic components because of which an estimated 90,000 units could not be produced.

“There was no lack of demand as the company had more than 2,40,000 pending customer orders at the end of the quarter. Though still unpredictable, the electronics supply situation is improving gradually. The company hopes to increase production in Q4, though it would not reach full capacity,” it added.

On a standalone basis, the company said its net profit in the third quarter stood at Rs 1,011.3 crore compared with Rs 1,941.4 crore a year ago.

Net sales declined marginally to Rs 22,187.6 crore in the period under review from Rs 22,236.7 crore in the same period previous fiscal.

In the domestic market, the company’s sales stood at 3.65 lakh units in the third quarter against 4.67 lakh units a year ago.

The auto major clocked its highest ever exports at 64,995 units in the third quarter, it added. Maruti Suzuki shipped out 28,528 units in the third quarter of 2020-21 fiscal.

For the nine months ended December 31, 2021, the automaker posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,003.7 crore compared with Rs 3,148 crore in the year-ago period.

Consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 61,580.6 crore against Rs 46,337.5 crore in the April-December period of previous fiscal.