Mumbai– Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India on Thursday reported a rise of 3 per cent in its net profit for the third quarter (Q3) of 2017-18.

According to the company, its net profit during the quarter under review increased to Rs 1,799 crore from Rs 1,747.2 crore reported for the corresponding period of last fiscal.

“The operating profit was Rs 23,488 million, a growth of 26.7 per cent over the same period previous year on account of higher sales volume, cost reduction efforts, lower sales promotion expenses and forex benefit, partially offset by adverse commodity prices,” the company said in a statement.

“While the operating profit increased by 26.7 per cent, the net profit increased by 3 per cent due to increase in effective tax rates and lower non-operating income due to mark-to-market impact on the invested surplus, compared to last year.”

Further, the company’s net sales edged-up by 13.9 per cent to Rs 18,940 crore over the same period in the previous year.

“The company sold a total of 431,112 vehicles during the quarter, a growth of 11.3 per cent over the same period of the previous year. Sales in the domestic market stood at 400,586 units, a growth of 12.4 per cent. Exports were at 30,526 units,” the statement said.

The company added that its board has “discussed and approved” a revision in the method of calculating royalty. This would result in the lower royalty payments for new model agreements starting with the Ignis, the statement said.

“This would be implemented after approval by the Board of Suzuki Motor Corp,” it added. (IANS)