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| Maruti beats slump by focusing on rural, govt sector |
| Mahesh Kulkarni / Bangalore Nov 21, 2008, 00:20 IST |
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Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), the country’s largest passenger car maker, is trying to keep its growth momentum going through innovative offerings.
The company, which witnessed around 4 per cent growth in its sales to touch 410,120 units during April-October 2008 compared to the year-ago period has seen considerable success in attracting new customers through a multi-pronged strategy, including aggressive marketing campaign aimed at rural markets, corporate customers and central government employees and certain cost-cutting measures.
“As the availability of finance became difficult for urban customers due to the rise in interest rates, we decided to focus on rural markets where customers do not normally depend on bank loans to buy cars. We have achieved a significant growth in rural markets this year,” Mayank Pareek, executive officer (marketing & sales), MSIL, said.
During the first seven months of FY08, Maruti has seen a growth of 83 per cent in its sales at 30,000 units in rural areas compared to the year-ago period, especially in Karnataka. While the company saw a drop of 9-10 per cent in demand for its cars in Bangalore city, demand rose 18-19 per cent in the state’s rural areas in the same period, he said.
In the corporate customers’ segment, Maruti has seen a growth of 59 per cent in its sales, which stood at 113,000 units in the first seven months, he said at the launch of its new hatchback, A-Star, here today.
Pareek said another innovative step taken by the company was to tap 4.6 million central government employees who are expecting huge salary arrears following the implementation of 6th Pay Panel recommendations. The company has started a special campaign from June this year to attract central government employees. As against the normal sales of 3,000-4,000 per month from these customers, Maruti has seen a three-fold jump in sales to touch 10,300 units in October.
In recent months, Maruti has turned its focus towards the public sector banks to finance its cars. PSU banks have been extending maximum loans to Maruti’s customers this financial year.
Apart from these measures, Maruti Suzuki has also resorted to some cost cutting measures. It has been redesigning some key components so as to reduce at least one gram in the weight. “By doing this we not only bring down the cost of some key components but also ensure that the fuel efficiency of our cars increases,” Pareek said.
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