New Delhi: Hit by rising material costs and currency fluctuations, country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India today reported a 36.52 per cent dip in net profit for the second quarter ended September 30.

Net profit for the quarter stood at Rs 296.1 crore, against Rs 466.5 crore in the same period last year, the company said in a statement.

During the July-September quarter net sales stood at Rs 4,806.3 crore (Net of Excise), against Rs 4,529.7 crore in the same period a year ago, up 6.1 per cent.

"The reduction in net profit has been mainly due to a rise in material costs, adverse impact of currency changes and a higher provision for depreciation, owing to more stringent depreciation norms adopted by the company in March 2008," it said.

For the half year ended September, net profit stood at Rs 762 crore, against Rs 966.1 crore in the same period last year, down 21.12 per cent.

The company said its net sales in the first half of 2008-09 were at Rs 9,537.3 crore, up 13 per cent over the corresponding period last year.

Total unit volume sales during the first half of the year stood at 382,035 units, compared with 360,994 units in the same period in the previous year, up 5.8 per cent.

In the domestic market, sales stood at 351,799 units during the period, against 336,758 units the previous year, up 4.5 per cent, it said.

Exports during the period stood at 30,236 units against 24,236 units in the year-ago period, up 24.8 per cent.

Source : PTI