Maruti Q4 net drops 18.5 per cent

India’s top car maker,Maruti Suzuki India Ltd,on Friday reported a surprising 18.5 per cent drop in quarterly net profit,missing forecast,due to higher raw material costs and inventory.

Maruti,in which Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corp holds a 54.2 per cent stake,said net profit fell to 2.43 billion rupees ($48.8 million) in the fiscal fourth quarter ended March from 2.98 billion rupees reported in the same period a year earlier.

That lagged a forecast of nearly 4 billion rupees in a Reuters poll of 16 brokerages.

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Maruti holds about half the Indian car market with models such as the best-selling Alto and recently launched hatchbacks A-Star and sedan Swift DZire.

Shares in Maruti,valued at $4.6 billion,rose 49 per cent in the March quarter,outperforming the main index that rose 0.6 per cent and the sector index’s 25 per cent gain.