Maruti Suzuki may not post growth in sales volume in the current fiscal year, its chairman said on Monday, as the country’s top carmaker suffered heavy production losses due to a labour strike, while demand for cars remains weak in Asia’s third-largest economy.
“I’m not sure but I think we’ll be lucky if we break even with last year…Let’s see how it goes but I doubt if we’ll have any growth this year,” R.C. Bhargava said in an interview for the Reuters India Investment Summit.
Bhargava had said in August he expected Maruti, 54.2 percent-owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp, to post single-digit sales growth this fiscal year ending in March, a far cry from its 25-percent rise last year.
He said on Monday he expects the Indian automobile industry to grow 2-3 per cent this fiscal year, compared with the record 30 per cent growth it had clocked a year ago.
Slowing economic growth, rising interest rates and fuel prices as well as falling stock markets have dampened sentiment in the Indian auto market.
