India's biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki on January 24 reported a fall of nearly 64 percent in quarterly profit as high fuel prices, strikes at a major factory and higher interest rates hit operations. Maruti, majority-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said net profit fell to 2.05 billion rupees ($40 million) in the three months to December, from 5.65 billion rupees a year earlier.
The result from the New Delhi-based company, which is battling rising competition from South Korea's Hyundai and other rivals, missed analyst forecasts of a 2.5 billion rupee profit. Total sales fell 28 percent to 239,528 cars in the quarter, from a year earlier, the company said.
"Production of cars was impacted by a labour unrest, which has since been resolved. Sales were also sluggish due to higher fuel prices and interest rates," the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange. Maruti spent much of 2011 battling a series of crippling labour disputes at its plants in the northern Indian state of Haryana, where workers were demanding that management recognise a new labour union.