Maruti Suzuki first-quarter profit up 4.4 percent, misses estimates

(Reuters) - Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the country's top-selling car maker, posted a 4.4 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, but missed estimates as a rise in commodity prices and the impact of a new nationwide sales tax ate into earnings.

The company, majority-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said it posted a profit of 15.56 billion rupees ($242.66 million) for the first quarter ended June 30, compared with 14.91 billion rupees a year earlier. (http://bit.ly/2eQcEmf)

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 17.01 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Total income of Maruti rose 17 percent to 204.60 billion rupees. The company sold a total of 394,571 vehicles during the quarter, up 13.2 percent from the year-ago period.

 

($1 = 64.1225 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Jessica Kuruthukulangara in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)