Country’s largest passenger car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki had given huge discounts in the first quarter of this fiscal to pull up sales which were affected by the increase in fuel prices and later on by rising interest rates.
A worried Ajay Seth, Chief Financial Officer at Maruti Suzuki, expressed his views on the latest hike in repo rates by 50 basis points. He said, “The outlook continues to remain sluggish as interest rates are rising. This is going to impact buying sentiments.” However, he was hopeful that the upcoming festive season will trigger their sales.
Earlier this week, Maruti Suzuki reported net profit sales of Rs 549 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, up from Rs 465 crore last year. Overall sales went up by 3.3 percent.
With the tense market situation, company is planning to launch the upgraded version of its popular Maruti Suzuki Swift in the coming month. As per the company the production of old Swift has been already stopped and all the focus has now been shifted towards ramping up new Swift’s capacity at Manesar plant. Initial planning is to produce around 15 to 17 thousands vehicles per month.
