Maruti sales rise 27.2% in September

Maruti Udyog Ltd has reported a 27.2 per cent rise in vehicle sales in September, but the growth was inflated by last year's low base when production was hit by a strike at a key vendor.

A release from the company said it sold 43,949 vehicles in September, up from 34,543 in the same month a year ago. Domestic sales at the automaker, which has a 51 per cent share of the Indian market, rose 24 per cent to 40,322 units while exports jumped 82 per cent to 3,627 vehicles. Sales were up 3.46 per cent from August when Maruti sold 42,480 vehicles.

Total vehicle sales in April-September, the first half of this business year, were up 19.3 per cent to 253,472 vehicles from 212,468 units in the year-ago period.

Maruti's production was hit in August and September last year by a strike at DCM Engineering, which supplied 70 per cent of its requirement of cylinder blocks.

MUL reported a 30.3 per cent rise in sales in the business year to March, helped by robust economic growth, three-decade low interest rates and a product tax cut.