Maruti Suzuki share zooms 6% as company decides to hike prices from July

Share of Maruti Suzuki rose 6 per cent to hit an intraday high of Rs 7,299.00 on BSE today, a day after the company said it will hike car prices due to rise in input costs in the July-September quarter of the current fiscal.

"Over the past year, the cost of the company's vehicles continue to be adversely impacted due to increase in various input costs. Hence, it has become imperative for the company to pass on some impact of the above additional cost to customers through a price rise," MSI said in a BSE filing.

The stock ended 5.25 per cent higher at Rs 7263.75 against the previous close of Rs 6901.50. Market cap of the firm rose to Rs 2,19,423.40 crore.

The share stands higher than 5 day, 10 day, 20 day, 50 day, 100 day, and 200 day moving averages. It has gained 23 per cent in the last 12 months.

This is not the first time that Maruti Suzuki has raised the prices of its car models. On April 16, the carmaker had announced the increase in weighted average price in ex-showroom prices (Delhi) of 1.6 per cent across models.

The company reported a 71 per cent decline in sales to 46,555 units in May as against 1,59,691 units in April. This drop in its sales figures came after the spike in COVID-19 cases and lockdowns across various states.

"In May 2020, the company witnessed production disruption owing to lockdowns. Since neither of the two months had normal production, the sales volume of May 2021 are not comparable with May 2020," MSI said in a statement.?The auto major had also closed its production for 16 days in May to divert the industrial oxygen for medical purposes. "In May, the company shut production from May 1 through May 16 so as to divert oxygen from industrial use for medical purposes," it added.

Sales of MSI's compact vehicles - which includes Swift, Celerio, Ignis, Baleno and Dzire - declined 72 per cent to 20,343 cars in May from 72,318 units in April. Sales of its mid-sized sedan Ciaz declined to 349 units as against 1,567 units in April.

MSI's utility vehicle sales - which includes Vitara Brezza, S-Cross and Ertiga - declined 75 per cent to 6,355 units as compared to 25,484 in April. Exports in May were down 35 per cent at 11,262 units compared to 17,237 units in April 2021.

Meanwhile, Maruti Suzuki India resumed operations at its plants with due caution and revised safety protocols. "We are ramping up production cautiously. Meanwhile, we continue to vaccinate all employees and families on priority. Over 36,000 employees have already received the first shot," a spokesperson of the country's largest automaker said.