Maruti net profit falls in Q4

The largest manufacturer fo cars in the country, Maruti Suzuki registered negative profit figures in the fourth quarter ended March, 2009. It posted a dip in its net profit by 18.31 per cent at 243.1 crore. The net profit was 297.6 crore in the same period last year. Maruti Suzuki CFO, Ajay Seth said that they had incurred a loss of Rs 121 crore in fourth quarter due to forex losses on the dollar-rupee contracts. sharp fall in net profit for the March quarter is perhaps the first seen in the last seven years. From April 2008 to March 2009, the company sold 722,144 units of cars in the domestic market. This is only 1.45 per cent growth in numbers against the units sold last year. Maruti exported a record 70,000 cars, a jump of 32 per cent from last year. There was 12 per cent growth in sales for the fourth quarter, which stood at Rs 6,432.90 crore.  Maruti Suzuki, however, was able to increase its market share from 51.4 per cent in 2007-08 to 52.2 per cent, though many new cars were launched by competitors. Overall, for the full financial year, while passenger vehicle industry sales grew by just 0.13 per cent, Maruti Suzuki's grew by 1.45 per cent.