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Journalism of Courage
NEW DELHI, March 28: The total sales of Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) is expected to rise five per cent for the year ended March 31, 1998. The turnover of the company is expected to cross Rs 8,500-crore mark. The sale of the vehicle is expected to be around 3.5 lakh for 1997-98, as against 3.38 lakh last year. With this the market share of the company is expected to be around 83 per cent this year against 79.6 per cent in 1996-97.
Maruti is likely to declare the financial results early next week. However, the company’s performance may be attributed to the sale of Zen, as the company has sold 55,535 Zen in the domestic market for 11 months till February this year. In spite of a good performance of the car, during the past two months the Zen sales dipped slightly as customers were expecting a price cut on the car and the introduction of the diesel Zen. When contacted, R S S L N Bhaskarudu, managing director of MUL, said, “These rumours are baseless. Zen diesel will take time and we do not have any plans ofreducing the price”.
The total income of MUL, including that from the sale of spare parts, interests, etc, is expected to rise by seven per cent as the turnover of the company in 1996-97 was Rs 7956.5 crore.
The income and the sales figures of the company has shown a positive trend. The exports of MUL have fallen substantially. The company is expected to close the year with an export figure of approximately 25,500 units as against 35,030 units in the previous year. With this the forex earnings of the company is expected to be much low this year as against Rs 612 last year. Maruti’s 800 model recorded a sales of 1,66,435 units for the 11-month period.
