India’s largest car
manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Tuesday reported a 48% drop in third
quarter net profit, as a global chip shortage slowed production and high
material costs reduced margins. The carmaker’s shares jumped 6.88% on January
25 to close at Rs 8,650.10.

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The company reported a
consolidated profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 1,011 crore for the quarter ended
December 31, down 48% from Rs 1,941.4 crore in the year-ago period. The profit
surpassed the market estimate of Rs 896.7 crore.

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Total revenues stood at Rs
23,253 crore, down 1% from Rs 23,471 crore in the corresponding quarter of the
previous year. Revenue in the previous quarter was Rs 20,551 crore.

The operating EBITDA margin
stood at 4.1% in Q3FY22 as compared to 6.7% in Q3FY21. The profit margin came
in at 4.6% against 8.7% in the same quarter the previous year.

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Maruti Suzuki in a regulatory
filing said that it hopes to increase production in the fourth quarter, though
it would not reach full capacity. The electronics supply situation is improving
gradually but is still unpredictable.

Maruti said, “Production
was constrained by a global shortage in the supply of electronic components
because of which an estimated 90,000 units could not be produced”.

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The company’s profits were
comparatively low despite cost reduction efforts due to slow sales , high
commodity prices and low non-operating income on account of the mark-to-market
impact.

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The company sold a total of
4,30,668 units during the quarter compared to 4,95,897 units in the same period
the previous year. In the domestic market,  sales stood at 3,65,673 units
in the quarter against 467,369 units in Q3FY21. The company had earlier said it
has increased prices across its models in the range of 0.1% to 4.3% owing to an
increase in various input costs.

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The company said that there was
no lack of demand as it had over 240,000 pending customer orders at the end of
the third quarter. It touched its highest ever exports at 64,995 units as
compared to 28,528 units in Q3 FY21, 66% higher than the previous highest
exports in any third quarter.