NEW DELHI: Maruti, a unit of Japanese auto giant Suzuki Motor Corporation, said its net profit in fiscal 2002-03 touched 1.46 billion, up from 1.04 billion logged in the year ended March 31, 2002. The company's total revenue rose to 94.26 billion in 2002-03 from 93.98 billion in the previous fiscal year, said a Maruti statement issued here. Profit before tax grew 138.4 percent to 2.821 billion. Maruti said the growth in net profit was brought about by measures to enhance productivity and reduce costs. "During the year, Maruti engineers worked closely with component suppliers leading to a reduction in cost of components and further improvement in quality," said the company. "The localization levels for components also went up and helped in reducing costs," Maruti said, adding the company was also able to increase manufacturing productivity. It said the employee costs went down by 6.7 percent in 2002-03 from the previous fiscal due to the reduction in the number of employees as a result of the voluntary retirement scheme introduced in 2001-02. Suzuki Motor holds a majority 54.2 percent stake in Maruti Udyog while the Indian government controls 45.5 percent equity. The government plans to lower its stake by another 25 percent through a public offering, likely to be issued next month. Maruti, which sells 11 car models in the domestic market, sold 362,426 vehicles in 2002-03, registering a growth of 2.8 percent over 2001-02.
Source: IANS