In a first, Suzuki’s India revenue revs past its home market

For the first time ever, Suzuki Motor Corporation revenues from India has surged past that of its home market Japan.

The revenues include income from both two-wheeler and four-wheeler businesses of the multinational.

The biggest pie of the India business though comes from its car unit - Maruti Suzuki India.

Suzuki announced its annual results on Thursday from its headquarters in Japan.

Its revenues from India rose to 1.3 trillion Yen (Rs 80,138 crore) during the financial year ended March 31, 2018 while that of revenues from Japan closed at 1.1 trillion Yen (Rs 68,494 crore).

Though India sells cars that are priced lower than those sold in Japan the sustained rise in demand for Maruti Suzuki cars in India pushed up revenues by 28 percent last year. In comparison revenues in Japan grew by under 8 percent during the same year.

In 2016-17 India posted revenues of 1.01 trillion Yen (Rs 62486 crore) compared to 1.03 trillion yen (Rs 63635 crore) posted by Japan. Suzuki Motor Corporation owns 56 percent stake in Maruti Suzuki as of the end of March which is valued at nearly Rs 1.48 lakh crore.

This is yet another feather in Maruti Suzuki’s cap as only last year its net revenues were higher than the stand-alone revenues of Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC). But Suzuki's revenues from its two-wheeler business in Japan had pushed its consolidated topline in its home market past that of India's.

Suzuki Japan’s revenues also include revenues from its motorcycle business whereas for Maruti Suzuki its revenues are based only on sales of passenger and now commercial vehicles. Suzuki also sells motorcycles and scooters in India through a 100 percent subsidiary.

Push from car business

Thanks to the success of new models like Baleno, Brezza, Dzire and Swift Maruti Suzuki has been able to maintain its stranglehold on the Indian car market despite the entry of many global heavyweights including Renault, Nissan and Volkswagen.

The company has only pushed its market share higher over the years to now close at 50 percent last year compared to 45 percent posted three years ago. Maruti Suzuki even went past Tata Motors to become the most valued company in the automotive space.

Last financial year Maruti Suzuki closed with sales of 1.64 million passenger vehicles, a growth of 14 percent. During the same year the industry grew by 8 percent to 3.28 million units. New launches lined up — two new models every year till 2020 — and a sustained improvement in new vehicle purchases in the domestic market will likely keep Maruti Suzuki in the lead over Suzuki Motor Corporation, Japan.

Suzuki is going full steam in ramping up of production at the Gujarat plant to bring down the waiting period on Maruti cars. It will also set to start production of another later this year. The Gujarat plant is owned by Suzuki and cars produced there are sold to Maruti Suzuki who are tasked to market and distribute them to its dealers.