Maruti Suzuki's Q1 Profit Up 130 Per Cent Amid Output Shortfall Due To Chip Shortage

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India posted a net profit of Rs 1,013 crore, for the quarter that ended on 30 June, registering a 130 per cent year-on-year growth over Rs 440 crore in Q1 FY2021-22 which saw largescale COVID-19 pandemic induced shutdowns and disruptions in output.

No exception to the prevailing semi-conductor crisis, the company saw production being affected by shortage of electronic components in this quarter with about 51,000 vehicles not being produced, financial results of the company showed on Wednesday (27 July).

“Pending customer orders stood at about 2.8 lakh vehicles at the end of the quarter and the company is making efforts to serve these orders fast," Maruti stated in its BSE filing.

Despite constraints, the automaker’s total sales increased to 467,931 vehicles during the quarter with 398,494 units of dispatches in the domestic market, a 32.3 per cent increase from the year-ago period when sales stood at overall 353,614 units, including 308,095 units in the country.

The company also saw the highest ever exports in any quarter at 69,437 units, as against 45,519 units shipped to export markets.

During the quarter, the OEM’s revenue from operations were at Rs 25,286 crore, a 50 per cent jump on yoy basis from Rs 16,798 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY2022.

Rising prices of commodities have however trimmed the operating profit for the June 2022 quarter at Rs 1,260.7 crore-sequentially-but kept it significantly higher on a yoy basis from the Rs 77.9 crore operating profit in the year-ago period.

This impact was partially offset by the hike in vehicle prices that the company was forced to undertake, MSIL said. The profit before tax was also affected by the non-operating income being lower in this quarter due to mark-to-market loss even as the company continued to work on cost reduction efforts to minimise the impact on customers.

Nomura analysts expect Maruti Suzuki’s domestic PV wholesales (except OE and light commercial vehicle) to be up 6 per cent yoy in July.

“With an estimated industry wholesales of 353k units, it implies 40 per cent market share for MSIL,” say Kapil Singh and Siddhartha Bera, with the market share benefiting from the launch of the Grand Vitara. Overall volume is likely to be up 8 per cent yoy on higher exports whose growth is seen at 18 per cent yoy.

The Grand Vitara was unveiled earlier this month in the competitive mid-size SUV segment, which is currently dominated by Hyundai Creta, Kia Seltos, Skoda Kushaq and other players. The company’s first ever hybrid SUV for the Indian market expected to be launched around the festive season 2022, will be available in both strong and mild hybrid engine options, making it the company’s first ever strong hybrid vehicle offering.

Jointly developed by Toyota and Suzuki, the SUV will be manufactured in Toyota’s plants from August 2022 and will have the Toyota developed 1.5L petrol engine paired with an electric motor and fuel efficiency of 27.97 kmpl. The model will also be launched in a mild hybrid variant with a 1.5L Dual VVT K-series engine with progressive smart hybrid technology.

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