Maruti Suzuki Q3 net vaults 27% to Rs1,919 cr

Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's top carmaker, has posted a 27.1 per cent rise in its third-quarter net profit, at Rs1,019 crore ($149 million) compared with Rs802 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The company, which is majority owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp,  reported net sales (net of excise) of Rs14,767.7 crore, a growth of 20.4 per cent over the same period in the previous year.

The company sold a total of 374,182 vehicles in the October-December quarter of the current fiscal, a growth of 15.5 per cent. Of this, exports were at 31,187 units, a growth of 8.6 per cent.

Higher volumes, material cost reduction initiatives and favorable foreign exchange contributed to profit during the quarter.

For the nine months ended 31 December 2015, the company sold a total of 1,068,846 vehicles, a growth of 13.0 per cent. Exports accounted for 96,888 of the total sale, a growth of 5.1 per cent.

The company registered net sales (net of excise) of Rs414,209 million, a growth of 17.2 per cent over the same period last year.

Net profit for the nine-month period stood at Rs3,437.8 crore, up 41.6 per cent.

Maruti, in December, won shareholder approval to buy its cars from a Gujarat plant to be funded by parent Suzuki, which will allow the Indian company to invest its surplus cash in other parts of the business like research and development.