Third quarter net profit for Maruti Suzuki down by 63.6 percent

Mumbai: On Monday, Maruti Suzuki reported a 63.6 percent fall in net profit for the third quarter of the current fiscal at INR 205.62 crore as high interest rates and rising fuel costs hit demand for cars. The company had earned a net profit of INR 565.17 crore in the like quarter of 2010-11. Total income also decreased 16.43 percent at Rs.8042.77 crore from Rs.9624.64 crore in the corresponding quarter of the last fiscal.

"Unit sales in the quarter were impacted by sluggish market conditions caused by higher fuel prices and interest rates. Additionally the company lost 40,000 units in production due to industrial relations problem at Manesar," the company said in a statement.Maruti Suzuki sold 211,803 units in the domestic market as against 299,527 vehicles in the like period of 2010-11. The company exported 27,725 units as against 31,160.

"The depreciation of the rupee during the quarter adversely impacted the bottom line through higher cost of imports for the company and its vendors and royalty."

The company reported a fall of 38.9 percent in its net profit for the nine months ended Dec 31, 2011 at Rs.995.30 crore from Rs.1,628.78 crore in the corresponding period of last fiscal.

The auto major's net sales declined by 10.4 percent at Rs.23,521 crore from Rs.26,264.50 crore in the like period of 2010-11. "During this period, the company sold 684,892 units in the domestic market as compared to 820,350 units during the same period in the last year. In exports, the company sold 88,469 units," the statement added.

Railway to increase passenger fares by 25 percent

New Delhi: A high-level committee on rail modernisation chaired by Sam Pitroda, advisor to the prime minister, has recommended that the Railways hike passenger fares one time by 25 per cent and index all fares to inflation to raise Rs 60,000 crore next year.

In a presentation to the Planning Commission ahead of the Railway Budget 2012-13, the committee has said the funds could be used to part-fund a modernisation programme costing Rs 9,13,000 crore over five years. A 25 per cent increase in passenger fares can mobilise Rs 37,500 crore, it said.

The Pitroda committee was set up by Railway Minister Dinesh Trivedi in September last year and its other members include HDFC’s Deepak Parekh, IDFC’s Rajiv Lall and Feedback Venture’s Vinayak Chatterjee.

While Trivedi has talked of the need to raise fares to bring the Railways back on track, his party leader Mamata Banerjee is opposed to the same.