Chip shortage bites; Maruti Q2 net dips 66%

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday reported a 66 per cent decline in consolidated net profit at Rs 487 crore in the second quarter ended September 30, 2021, impacted by the ongoing semiconductor shortage and increase in commodity prices.

The company had posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 1,420 crore in the second quarter of last fiscal, Maruti Suzuki India said in a statement.

Consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 20,551 crore in the second quarter, as compared to Rs 18,756 crore in the year-ago period, it added.

Total vehicle sales were down 3 per cent at 379,541 units in the second quarter, as against 393,130 units in the corresponding period last fiscal, it said.

Domestic sales were at 320,133 units in the second quarter, as against 370,619 units in the year-ago period.

Exports were, however, the highest ever at any quarter in the company's history at 59,408 units in the second quarter, as compared to 22,511 units in the same period last fiscal.

An estimated 1.16 lakh vehicles could not be produced owing to the electronics component shortage mostly corresponding to the domestic models, the company said.

Maruti Suzuki India further said it had more than 2 lakh pending customer orders at the end of the quarter for which it is making all efforts to expedite deliveries.

"This quarter was also marked by an unprecedented increase in the prices of commodities like steel, aluminium and precious metals within a span of one year.

"The company made maximum efforts to absorb input cost increases offsetting them through cost reduction and passed on minimum impact to customers by way of car price increase," it said adding as a result there was a drop in its net profit.

In the first half of the fiscal year ended September 30, the company sold a total of 733,155 units with domestic sales at 628,228 units.

Exports in this half year were at 1,04,927 units as compared to 32,083 units in the same period last fiscal, the company said, adding overseas shipments in the first half this year exceeded the full year sales of last year.

Photograph: Mukesh Gupta/Reuters