Maruti Suzuki net profit falls 35.5 pct, misses estimate

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki Ltd , India's biggest carmaker, reported a 35.5 percent fall in fourth-quarter profit, missing estimates, as potential car buyers postponed their purchases and waited for a slowing economy to pick up.

Maruti, controlled by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp , said profit for the Jan-March quarter was 8 billion rupees ($131 million) compared to 12.4 billion rupees in same year-ago period.

Analysts on average were expecting a net profit of 9.10 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The year-ago quarterly profit is not strictly comparable as it included the full-year impact of Maruti's merger with its powertrain unit. A substantial decline in the yen had also made imports of auto parts cheaper.

The automaker reported a net profit of 6.81 billion rupees in the previous quarter.

($1 = 61.0550 rupees)

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and Aditi Shah; Editing by Miral Fahmy)