Maruti volumes may drop this year: Bhargava

Maruti Suzuki may see sales volumes going down in the current fiscal, hit as it was hit by the double whammy of production losses due to a labour strike and declining demand for cars in the country.

Maruti Suzuki chairman RC Bhargava said in an interview at the Reuters India Investment Summit that the company would be lucky to break even.

Maruti Suzuki, owned 54.2 per cent by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, grossed volumes of 1.27 million units in the fiscal year that ended in March, an increase of 25 per cent.

Bhargava said that sales might even be slightly lower than last year, but there were still four months to go before the year ended though he doubted that Maruti would be able to report any growth this year.

Bhargava said he expected the company to post single-digit sales growth this fiscal.

He said that he expected the Indian automobile industry to grow 2-3 per cent this fiscal year, as against the record 30 per cent growth a year ago.