India’s largest passenger vehicle manufacturer Maruti Suzuki on Friday reported that the company’s net sales during the first half of this ongoing financial year stood at Rs 3,857 crore, recording a growth of 19.5% over the same period last year. Maruti Suzuki’s net profit stood at Rs 4,040 crore. R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki said that while the operating profit increased by 16%, the net profit increased by 3.8% due to lower non-operating income as the yields on investment were lower compared to last year and some impact of commodities and additional advertisement expenses and increase in effective tax rates.
The second quarter (July-September 2017) has been a successful quarter for the company as it sold 492,118 units at a growth of 17.6% over the same period last year. In the domestic market, the company sold 4,57,401 units and also saw the success on new Maruti Suzuki Dzire, Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza SUV and Maruti Suzuki Baleno with strong demand. R C Bhargava said that GST has not affected the doing of business and the consumer demand has not been affected.
On bringing electric vehicles, R C Bhargava said, “Maruti Suzuki will make electric cars, I cannot confirm the timelines but we will get electric cars and will remain the leader on the electric front as well, we have to move to electric and we will move to electric, in the meanwhile we would want the non-electric cars to be hybrid cars”.
Also read:Â 2017 Maruti Suzuki S-Cross Facelift Review: Hits and misses in its second innings
Maruti Suzuki believes that future of hybrid cars is dependent on what government decides on its taxation policy. Hybrid cars are superior to conventional cars as they reduce fuel consumption. The sale of company’s mild hybrid vehicles has come down drastically. The SHVS mild hybrid Maruti Suzuki Ciaz trend has reversed and post GST, only 30% of diesel variants of Ciaz sold are hybrids as against 70% earlier. However, the company would continue to invest in hybrid and mild hybrid technology in India.
Maruti Suzuki shares are also currently the most valued auto stock in the world behind Elon Musk’s Tesla.
