NEW DELHI: India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki on Friday reported sales of 1,365,370 units (passenger vehicle (PV) plus light commercial vehicle) in the domestic market in financial year 2022, a growth of 3% when compared with FY21 sales.
However, when compared with sales of FY18-19, the peak year for MSIL, domestic sales last fiscal took a hit of about 3.88 lakh units. In FY19, MSIL had sold 1,753,700 units in the Indian market and it was only in FY2016, barring the Covid-19-hit FY21, that the carmaker had reported domestic sales lower than 14 lakh units.
This sharp fall in sales for the carmaker comes at a time when its market share has taken a hit amid growing preference for SUVs, a segment where Maruti Suzuki is not the strongest player. Till last month, MSIL had lost 740bps of market share in the domestic PV market over the last 2 years from the peak of 51%, according to brokerage firm data.
Maruti Suzuki, meanwhile, maintains that demand for PVs remains robust and it is the global shortage of semi-conductors that has resulted in lower volumes last fiscal. “The shortage of electronic components had some impact on the production of vehicles in FY 2021-22.
The Company took all possible measures to minimise the impact. As the supply situation of electronic components continues to be unpredictable, it might have some impact on the production volume in FY 2022-23 as well,” said the carmaker.