Maruti Suzuki Sales Rise 29% in October

India's largest automobile manufacturer by volume Maruti Suzuki has reported 29.1 percent increase in total sales (domestic+export) for the month of October 2015, the company informed in a BSE filing.

The biggest jump was seen in the sales of compact cars, which includes Swift, Ritz, Celerio and Baleno. The sales of company's mid-sized sedan Ciaz, which was launched in October 2014, stood at 5,890 units, down 7.2 per cent as against 6,345 units in the same period a year ago. The company has received bookings for close to 10,000 units of Baleno, said the company spokesperson. Moreover this period is considered to be auspicious for buying something new and therefore sees the highest monthly sales in the entire fiscal. Auto firms in India report despatches to dealers and not end buyers.

Of the total, the company has sold 97951 units of its passenger cars during last month, up by 21.5% as against 80589 units in 2014.

The off-take of utility vehicles which comprises of brands like Gypsy, Ertiga, Grand Vitara and S-Cross rose by 56.5 percent at 9,435 units from sales of 6,027 units during October 2014.

The company said its domestic sales increased 24.7 per cent during the month to 1,21,063 units as against 97,069 units in October 2014.

Exports went up by 90.4 percent in the month under review with 13,146 units being shipped out - up from 6,904 units sold overseas during the corresponding month of 2014.

Vehicle sales have been buoyed by new models and the festive season which started with Ganesh Chaturthi on 17 September.

At 11:12am, shares of Maruti were up 0.92% to Rs.4,489.60, which the benchmark Sensex index was down 0.50%.