The country's largest car maker Maruti Suzuki India reported a 63.6% fall in net profit for the quarter ended December 31st 2011, to INR 205.6 crore.

Maruti Suzuki India in a statement said that the company had posted a net profit of INR 565.17 crore for the corresponding period last financial year.

It added that the company's net sales declined by 17.4% to INR 7,663.6 crore during the quarter under review from INR 9,276.73 crore in the year ago period.

The company said that "Sales in the quarter were impacted by sluggish market conditions caused by higher fuel prices and interest rates.”

Maruti said that the strikes which shut down its factories in Manesar, north India, for weeks at a cost of over USD 500 million, resulted in a production loss of 40,000 vehicles during the quarter.

The carmaker, which produced every other car sold in India this time last year, may struggle to post a rise in sales volume in the fiscal year that ends in March.

A weakened rupee, which fell by around a fifth from its high in July, also hurt Maruti's profits by increasing the cost of imports.

In an effort to offset rising costs, Maruti followed domestic rivals Mahindra & Mahindra and South Korea's Hyundai Motor with a price increase across its range by up to 3.4% last week.

(Sourced from ET)