Maruti crosses one million sales in 10 months this FY

The country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India, which became the first company in India to sell one million units in a single year last fiscal, has already crossed that milestone in just ten months this financial year.

During the April-December this fiscal the company sold a total of 927,655 units, which includes both domestic sales and exports.

"As on January 25, domestic wholesales is at 73,874 units, while the export figures will be compiled at the end of the month. Even then, we have already crossed the one million mark for this fiscal," a senior Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) official said.

Cumulatively, without the January export figures, MSI's total sales in the April-January period stands at 1,001,529 units. At present, MSI contributes over 50 per cent to parent Suzuki Motor Corp's total global sales volume. In 2009-10 fiscal, MSI's total sales stood at 1,018,365 units.

In the ongoing fiscal, MSI has posted good sales numbers despite having production constraints. For two consecutive months in October and November, its domestic monthly sales had crossed the 100,000-unit mark.

In order to meet the rising demand, the company is now setting up a third plant with a capacity of 250,000 units annually at its Manesar facility at an investment of Rs 1,925 crore.

The company has already set up a second plant there at an investment of Rs 1,700 crore, which will also have an annual capacity of 250,000 lakh units.

While the second plant at Manesar will be operational by January 2012, the third one is expected to go on stream by late 2012 or early 2013.

At present, MSI which is 54.2 per cent owned by Suzuki, has an annual capacity of 850,000 units at its Gurgaon plant, while the first plant at Manesar can produce 350,000 units annually, with the overall capacity totalling 1.2 million units a year.