Maruti Suzuki net profit up 29%, beats estimates

India's biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd beat analyst estimates with a roughly 29% rise in its quarterly net profit, helped by higher car sales and a positive foreign exchange impact.

India's biggest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd beat analyst estimates with a roughly 29% rise in its quarterly net profit, helped by higher car sales and a positive foreign exchange impact.

Maruti Suzuki, controlled by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp, said its net profit for the July-September quarter was 8.63 billion rupees ($140.37 million) compared with 6.70 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts expected the company to report a net income of 8.28 billion rupees, according to Thomson Reuters.

Net sales of the company, famous for its low-cost, entry-level compact cars, rose 17.5 percent to 119.96 billion rupees in the July-September quarter, the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Maruti said its board has decided to recommend an increase in the foreign institutional investor (FII) holding limit in the company to 40%, broadly the level of public shareholding in the stock, subject to approvals.