Maruti Q4 profit rises 58% as price hikes offset high input costs

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Ltd. Friday reported a 58% rise in fourth-quarter net profit as price hikes and lower sales promotion costs helped the country's top carmaker outweigh the impact of high raw material costs and global semiconductor shortages.

India's largest carmaker recorded a net profit of ₹1,839 crore in the January-March period. It was ₹1,166 crore in the corresponding period of last year.

Maruti, which sells every second car in India and is majority-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, has hiked prices five times from January 2021 to April 2022.

On Friday, Maruti shares were trading marginally higher at ₹7,891.80 apiece on NSE.

Sales, meanwhile, rose 11% year-on-year to ₹25,514 crore during the quarter under review.

“The prices of commodities such as steel, aluminium and precious metals witnessed an unprecedented increase during this year. The Company was forced to increase prices of vehicles to partially offset this impact,” Maruti said in a filing.

Maruti said it continued to work on cost reduction efforts to minimise the impact on customers.

The Company sold a total of 488,830 vehicles during the quarter, lower by 0.7% compared to the same period previous year.

Maruti's EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) margin - a key measure of profitability - stood at 9.08%

Maruti said the Board has recommended a final dividend of ₹60 per share for the year FY22.

In the reporting quarter, the sales in the domestic market stood at 420,376 units, a decline of 8% over last year period. The sales in the export market were at 68,454 units which is the highest ever in any quarter.