Maruti Suzuki profit soars 51% in Q4 despite chip shortage

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Friday reported a 51.14 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,875.8 crore in the fourth quarter ended on March 31, 2022, despite semiconductor shortage hampering production.

The company, which had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,241.1 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal, said it has earmarked a little over Rs 5,000 crore as capex for the ongoing fiscal 2022-23, including expanding the capacity of its Manesar plant.

Consolidated total revenue from operations stood at Rs 26,749.2 crore as against Rs 24,034.5 crore in the fourth quarter a year ago, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Total vehicle sales in the quarter under review stood at 4,88,830 units, lower by 0.7 per cent compared to the same period of the previous year. Domestic sales were at 4,20,376 units, a decline of 8 per cent over that in Q4 FY21, the company said, adding exports were at 68,454 units which is the highest ever in any quarter, the company said.

For the fiscal ended March 31, 2022, the company said its consolidated net profit stood at Rs 3,879.5 crore as compared to Rs 4,389.1 crore in FY21, down 11.6 per cent.

Consolidated total revenue from operations for FY22 was at Rs 88,329.8 crore as against Rs 70,372 crore in FY21, it added.

The company sold a total of 16,52,653 vehicles during the year, up 13.4 per cent over the previous year, it said, adding domestic sales were at 14,14,277 units, up 3.9 per cent over FY 2020-21.

The company said it recorded its highest ever exports of 2,38,376 units in FY 2021-22 compared to 96,139 units in FY 2020-21. Maruti Suzuki said its production during the year was impacted by the shortage of electronic components by an estimated 2.7 lakh vehicles, mostly domestic models, because of which there were pending customer bookings of about 2.68 lakh units at the end of the year.

The prices of commodities such as steel, aluminium and precious metals witnessed an unprecedented increase during this year, the company said, adding it was forced to increase the prices of vehicles to partially offset this impact.

Addressing a virtual earnings press conference, Maruti Suzuki Chairman RC Bhargava said the year was an "eventful one" with the second wave of COVID-19 at the start, along with chip shortage and rising commodity prices posing challenges.