Maruti Suzuki May Not Increase Sales this Year

Maruti Suzuki may not post growth in sales volume in the current fiscal year, its chairman said on Monday. The country's top carmaker suffered heavy production losses due to a labor strike even asdemand for cars remains weak in Asia's third-largest economy.

I'm not sure but I think we'll be lucky if we break even with last year...Let's see how it goes but I doubt if we'll have any growth this year, R.C. Bhargava said in an interview for the Reuters India Investment Summit.

Bhargava had said in August he expected Maruti, 54.2 percent-owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, to post single-digit sales growth this fiscal year ending in March, a far cry from its 25-percent rise last year.

He said on Monday he expects the Indian automobile industry to grow 2-3 percent this fiscal year, compared with the record 30 percent growth it had clocked a year ago.

Slowing economic growth, rising interest rates and fuel prices as well as falling stock markets have dampened sentiment in the Indian auto market.