India's largest car maker, Maruti Udyog Ltd on Thursday reported a higher-than-expected 35 per cent rise in quarterly net profit, boosting its shares by nearly 6 per cent to a six-month high.
Maruti, which has nearly half the Indian market with models such as the Alto and the Swift hatchback, has been trying to shift consumers to more expensive vehicles including its new SX4 sedan, which deliver higher margins.
That, coupled with cost cutting, helped offset volatile raw material costs and higher interest rates that are slowing sales.
Maruti, 54.2 per cent owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said net profit rose to Rs 4.99 billion ($124 million) in the fiscal first quarter to end-June from Rs 3.70 billion in the same period a year earlier.
Read more in Financial Express
