ET reported that top Indian auto parts makers are on track to report a stellar first quarter as robust after sales demand and growing exports help them shrug off slowing auto sales at home.

Motherson Sumi Systems is likely to see quarterly net profit doubling in April to June boosted by earnings at an overseas subsidiary, Bharat Forge could see profit rising more than a third, while Exide Industries may report a 10% rise in profit.

Brokerage Batlivala & Karani in a report said that "The revenue growth rate of auto ancillary companies is expected to be in line with auto OEMs. However, auto ancillary companies with exposure to replacement market and export are expected to report better growth rate.”

Mr Surjit Arora analyst at Prabhudas Lilladher said that "All three companies which are leaders in their respective space, Bharat Forge, Motherson Sumi and Exide, should report better set of numbers simply because of their market leader position in their respective segments though comparatively for the sector there might be some margin pressure.”

Industry group the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers forecast that Indian car sales, which grew at a breakneck 30% in the fiscal year that ended in April, are now expected to grow by just 10 to 12% in FY12, down from an earlier forecast of 16 to 18%.

Car sales in Asia's third largest economy, which in June saw their slowest pace of growth since March 2009, are driven by a burgeoning middle class that relies on bank loans for purchases.

But India's central bank has raised interest rates 10 times since March last year in an effort to battle stubbornly high inflation, a move that has hurt credit based purchases. The growth of the Indian auto component industry is directly linked to the auto sector's growth and with OEMs accounting for more than 70% of domestic sales.

(Sourced from ET)