Bajaj Auto net crashes 23% to Rs 164 cr

India's second largest two-wheeler maker Bajaj Auto Ltd posted a 23.01 per cent drop in net profit to Rs 164.27 crore during the quarter ended December 31 as against a net profit of Rs 213.39 crore recorded during the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Following a sharp decline in sales, the company revenues during the October-December quarter fell to Rs 2,103.10 crore at 15.91 per cent against a figure of Rs 2,501.25 crore posted over the same period the previous year, the company said in a filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The Pune-based company sold 4,93,748 vehicles during this period, which is less than 7,13,135 vehicles sold during the third quarter of the last financial year. The two-wheeler sales during the quarter dropped severely to 4,17,111 from 6,38,716 units sold during the October-December quarter in 2007-08.

The company however managed to increase its export revenues by 56 per cent to Rs 795 crore during this quarter from Rs 511 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The number of units exported during this quarter were 2,15,233 as against 1,52,261 units expoerted over the same period in the previous year, a company statement said.

The drop in sales along with increased expenses on purchased goods and other operational expenditure led to a sharp dip in the net profit. The earnings per share (EPS) also dipped to Rs 11.4 from Rs 15.5, the statement issued said.