Maruti Suzuki reports marginal decline in February sales

The country's largest car-maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Tuesday reported a marginal decline in total sales in February at 1,17,451 units as against 1,18,551 units in the same month last year.

The company's domestic sales, however, has increased during the month to 1,08,115 units as against 1,07,892 units in February 2015.

"During the month, the Jat reservation agitation had disrupted component supplies, causing a temporary suspension of production by the company. The total production loss due to this was over 10,000 units. Despite that, the company was able to achieve marginal growth in domestic sales," MSI said.

The company's sales of mini segment cars, including Alto and WagonR, has declined 11.2% to 35,495 units as compared to 39,988 units in the year-ago month, MSI said in a statement.

The company's sales of the compact segment comprising Swift, Estilo, Ritz, Dzire and Baleno has increased marginally to 42,970 units in February this year as against 42,778 units in the year-ago period.

MSI said the sales of its compact sedan Dzire Tour has increased 38% during the month under review to 3,522 units as against 2,552 units in February 2015.

The sales of company's mid-sized sedans Ciaz has declined 4.6% to 5,162 units as against 5,410 units in February last year. There was no sale of premium sedan Kizashi during the month.

The company's sales of utility vehicles, including Gypsy, Grand Vitara, Ertiga and S-Cross rose 44.7% to 8,484 units in February this year from 5,863 units in the corresponding month last year.

Its sales of Omni and Eeco vans rose 10.5% to 12,482 units in February this year as compared to 11,301 units in the same period of previous year.

The company's exports during the month declined 12.4% to 9,336 units as compared to 10,659 units in February last year, MSI said. 

However, despite this, the company's shares were up 5.35% or Rs 173.40 higher at Rs 3,460 at 1305, on the back of strength in the domestic markets. BSE Sensex opened higher on Tuesday and edged up beyond 600 points intraday on the back of strength in the Asian markets and as rumours of a potential rate cut from Reserve Bank of India got louder.