India: Maruti Suzuki Q1 profit up 23 percent, beats estimates

NEW DELHI : Maruti Suzuki (MRTI.NS), India’s top-selling car maker, posted on Tuesday a 23 percent rise in first-quarter net profit, beating estimates, as higher sales on new model launches offset the adverse impact of an unfavourable foreign exchange rate.

Maruti, controlled by Japan’s Suzuki Motor (7269.T), said profit for the April-June quarter was 14.86 billion Indian rupees ($ 220.80 million), up from 12.08 billion rupees in the same period a year ago.

Analysts had expected the company to post a profit of 12.39 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Net sales rose about 12 percent to 146.5 billion rupees.

($ 1 = 67.3000 Indian rupees)