Maruti Suzuki , the country's biggest carmaker by sales posted its first profit decline in six quarters.Maruti Suzuki, like Tata Motors and all other Indian automakers, has seen sluggish sales over the past two years as high inflation pushed up prices while slow economic growth prevented incomes from keeping pace.
Like a lot of people in this country we are also hoping that post-election results, post the new government there will be an improvement in conditions - sentiment will improve and there will again be a revival of the car market," Chairman RC Bhargava said after an earnings briefing on Friday.
Maruti, controlled by Japan's Suzuki Motor, said net profit fell 36 per cent to Rs. 800 crore in January-March, compared with the Rs. 910 crore mean estimate of 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The decline was steep because of a one-off gain in the year-earlier period, though it was exacerbated by reduced sales volume, higher promotional spending and compensation paid to dealers to offset a price decline brought about by a tax cut.
Revenue fell 9.5 per cent to Rs. 11,818 crore.
Shares of Maruti closed 1.3 per cent lower on Friday after falling as much as 3.3 per cent, compared with a 0.8 per cent loss in the BSE Index. Since the beginning of 2014, they have risen 10.9 per cent versus the benchmark's 7.2 per cent gain.
Maruti is prepared for a demand recovery thanks to having a wide dealership network, a long reach in rural areas and a strong pipeline of new vehicles, the latest of which being the Celerio hatchback, analysts say.
Maruti on Friday said without elaborating that it expects to launch three vehicles in the current fiscal year.
The company makes vehicles at factories in Manesar and Gurgaon and plans to seek shareholder approval to source vehicles from a plant to be set up by parent Suzuki.
Maruti changed some terms of the plan to satisfy investors who favoured in-house production, and Suzuki may have to invest an extra Rs. 3,000 crore as a result, Bhargava said. He also said the shareholder vote would likely be after August-September.
Like a lot of people in this country we are also hoping that post-election results, post the new government there will be an improvement in conditions - sentiment will improve and there will again be a revival of the car market," Chairman RC Bhargava said after an earnings briefing on Friday.
Maruti, controlled by Japan's Suzuki Motor, said net profit fell 36 per cent to Rs. 800 crore in January-March, compared with the Rs. 910 crore mean estimate of 18 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The decline was steep because of a one-off gain in the year-earlier period, though it was exacerbated by reduced sales volume, higher promotional spending and compensation paid to dealers to offset a price decline brought about by a tax cut.
Revenue fell 9.5 per cent to Rs. 11,818 crore.
Shares of Maruti closed 1.3 per cent lower on Friday after falling as much as 3.3 per cent, compared with a 0.8 per cent loss in the BSE Index. Since the beginning of 2014, they have risen 10.9 per cent versus the benchmark's 7.2 per cent gain.
Maruti is prepared for a demand recovery thanks to having a wide dealership network, a long reach in rural areas and a strong pipeline of new vehicles, the latest of which being the Celerio hatchback, analysts say.
Maruti on Friday said without elaborating that it expects to launch three vehicles in the current fiscal year.
The company makes vehicles at factories in Manesar and Gurgaon and plans to seek shareholder approval to source vehicles from a plant to be set up by parent Suzuki.
Maruti changed some terms of the plan to satisfy investors who favoured in-house production, and Suzuki may have to invest an extra Rs. 3,000 crore as a result, Bhargava said. He also said the shareholder vote would likely be after August-September.