Maruti Sucuki which is 54.2% owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, showed an increase in its net profit from Rs 465 crore a year ago to Rs 549 crore during quarter ended June 30.

The company reported Net Sales of Rs 8,319.9 crore, which just rose 3.3% over the period of three months. The company experienced slow growth in sales due to high loan interest rates and fuel prices.

RBI's tough battle to curb inflation have slowed down sales of many automobile companies in the last few months as consumers are postponing their purchases.

"Higher commodity prices and foreign exchange volatility put pressure on margins as compared to the same period previous year," Maruti said in a statement on Tuesday.

It also said, “The market was sluggish, mainly due to a sharp increase in fuel prices and higher interest rates."

Company's total vehicle sales in the first quarter declined 0.6% to 2,81,526 units. While its domestic sales rose 3.3% year-on-year to 2,50,683 units, exports fell 23.7% from a year ago to 30,843 units.

Maruti's sales were also affected due to the strike at its Manesar plant, which hurt production of some of its models for 10 days.

OneIndia Money