Maruti net rises 32

Top carmaker Maruti Udyog on Monday announced a 32.5 per cent increase in first quarter profit at Rs 226.46 crore, compared to Rs 170.92 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

The result beat expectations, as three steps taken over the quarter 8212; price hikes for key models, cost cuts and improved performance of top-end models 8212; paid results. Demand for its new Swift too helped. Though volumes fell 5.3 pc to 1.21 lakh units, MUL realised 4 per cent over the shortfall via the performance of Baleno and WagonR.