Exports remain a sore point for Maruti Suzuki in Q1

Key highlight:

Maruti Suzuki posted a robust 14.3% growth in domestic sales
Exports of the company grew by just 0.1% during the quarter
Maruti Suzuki's net profit grew by 4.4% to Rs 1,556.4 crore during Q1

While Maruti Suzuki posted a robust 14.3% growth in domestic sales Q1 FY18, its exports continued to struggle. The exports of the company grew by just 0.1% during the quarter as it sold 26,140 units in Q1 FY18 in comparison to 26,103 units sold in the same quarter last year.

This brought the total sales growth of the largest car maker in India down to 13.2% during Q1 FY18 as it sold 3.94 lakh vehicles during the quarter in comparison with 3.48 vehicles sold in the same quarter last year.

Maruti Suzuki's net profit grew by 4.4% to Rs 1,556.4 crore during Q1 as compared to Rs 1,490.9 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Exports for the company has been struggling during this quarter. Earlier in May, Maruti Suzuki's exports sales declined by a large 36.3% to fall to 6,286 units sold in comparison to 9,872 units sold in the same month last year.

In April too it posted a decline of 29.4% in its exports. Maruti Suzuki's exports declined to 6,723 units in April 2017 from 9,524 units in April 2016.

Only in the month of June did it manage to post a high growth in exports as it rose to 95.8%. Maruti Suzuki's exports in June jumped as it sold 13,131 units during the month in comparison with only 6,707 units sold during the month.

This helped the company see a flat growth in exports during the quarter.

Maruti Suzuki has been looking to become the largest passenger vehicle exporter from the country. However, it had seen a major setback in 2016 as its exports declined by 15.2%. This resulted in it falling to third place in terms of car exporters from India, behind Ford India jumping to second spot from fourth due to 39.2% rise in exports during the year.

Maruti Suzuki exported 1,07,205 units in 2016 in comparison to 1,26,422 units in 2015.

Hyundai Motor, which is at second place in terms of domestic sales, has occupied the top spot for exports from India. Despite exports of Hyundai falling by 9.6%, it still managed to retain its top spot in the export market.

Hyundai exported 1,51,266 units in January – December 2016 in comparison too 1,67,268 units in 2015.

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