India's Maruti to boost capacity to keep up with demand

By Sethuraman N R and Tanvi Mehta

BENGALURU (Reuters) -Maruti Suzuki India Ltd said on Wednesday it plans to ramp up capacity to meet demand for passenger vehicles in the country and abroad, after strong sales in the segment helped the carmaker top quarterly estimates.

Indians bought a record 4 million passenger vehicles in fiscal year 2022-23, led by demand for sports utility vehicles.

Maruti's results are seen as a key indicator of private consumption in India. The auto sector carries more than 50% weightage in calculating the country's economic growth.

India's biggest carmaker said it plans to create additional production capacity of up to one million vehicles per year, adding that its existing capacity of 1.3 million units is fully utilised.

Maruti plans to introduce six different models of electric vehicles by the end of 2030, and these will largely be in the SUV category, chairman R.C. Bhargava said in a post-earnings call.

The company aims to expand its market share to nearly 50% in the passenger vehicles (PV) segment by focusing on utility as well as electric vehicles, Bhargava said.

It currently has more than 40% market share the PV segment.

However, demand for small cars is likely to be stagnant in 2023-24, the chairman added.

Maruti's profit for quarter ended March rose nearly 43% to 26.24 billion rupees ($321.2 million), beating analyst expectations for 25.70 billion rupees.

Relatively better sales volume led to improved capacity utilisation, driving higher margins, Maruti said in a statement, adding that it saw improved price realisation, as well as favorable foreign exchange.

Net sales increased about 21% to 308.22 billion rupees.

($1 = 81.7075 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru, Aditi Shah and Tanvi Mehta in New Delhi; Editing by Varun H K)