Maruti Q3 net up 183% to Rs 140 crore

Buoyed by strong demand in the automobile market, the country's biggest carmaker, Maruti Udyog, notched a 183 per cent higher net profit in the October-December quarter at Rs 140.8 crore.

The company's total income, net of excise, during the quarter was Rs 2,377.5 crore, 27 per cent more than income in the same period of the previous year.

During the period, car sales stood at 115,551, up 27 per cent over the number sold in the corresponding period of the previous year.

In the first nine months of the year, the company's total income stood at Rs 6,764 crore, net of excise, up 31 per cent over the same period of the previous year.

Profit before tax for the nine months went up to Rs 542.1 crore, growing 233 per cent over the same period of the previous year. Net profit at Rs 385 crore was 315 per cent more than April-December 2002.

The company's performance had been powered by a 30 per cent growth in sales in the first nine months of 2003-04.

The company sold 3,28,019 automobiles during the first nine months of the financial year when compared with 2,51,790 units in the same period of the previous year.

Of this, the company exported 35,040 vehicles, 65 per cent more than in the same period of the previous year.