Srinagar: Maruti Suzuki, which is presently India’s largest carmaker, on Wednesday, reported a standalone net loss of Rs. 249.4 crore in the first quarter which ended in June 2020.
The automobile manufacturer has cited COVID and the pandemic-related disruptions as the main cause for costing the company its first quarterly loss in more than a decade.
Just a year ago the company had recorded a profit of Rs. 1,435.5 crore for the same quarter. So far, Maruti sales have plunged to Rs. 3677.5 crore, as against Rs. 18, 735.2 crore last year, a financial daily newspaper Live Mint reported.
Nonetheless, this year’s figures for the first quarter have in fact surpassed several analysts’ expectations and has even exceeded estimates made by ICICI Securities, who had pegged net loss at Rs. 380 crore in lieu of COVID induced lockdowns and disruptions in the market, a Delhi based newspaper Economic Times reported.
In a press release, Maruti said: “Owing to the global pandemic of COVID, it was an unprecedented quarter in the company’s history wherein a large part of the quarter had zero production and zero sales in compliance with the lockdown stipulated by the government. Production and sales started in a very small way in the month of May.”
The statement added that the company’s first priority was the health, safety and wellbeing of all employees and associates across the value chain including its customers. “Hence with carefully designed safety protocols, which went far beyond compliance levels, the production in the whole quarter was equivalent to just about two weeks’ of regular working. The results have to be viewed in this context,” it said.
According to data available, the production in the whole quarter was equivalent to just about two weeks’ worth of regular production.
During this year’s quarter, the company sold a total of 76,599 vehicles, which sharply contrasts to 4,02,594 vehicle sales in the same quarter last years. Additionally, sales in the domestic market stood at 67, 027 units, while exports were at 9,572 units.
Soon after making the announcements of the figures, shares of Maruti Suzuki went down 1.85 per cent at Rs. 6,170.95, while benchmark Sensex was down 0.96 per cent at 38,124.20, the news report added.
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