Maruti margins look weak on paper, but per-car profitability holds up
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. The Maruti Suzuki India Ltd stock has slipped from its 52-week high of ₹17,370 seen earlier this month and fell a further ~3% on Thursday. In the December quarter (Q3FY26), normalized operating margin (adjusted for the one-time labour code impact of ₹594 crore) declined 70 basis points year-on-year to 12.4%.
However, this does not fully reflect underlying profitability, as percentage margins are being distorted by a higher denominator effect. To illustrate, average price realization increased by ₹62,000 per car year-on-year, but most of this was used to offset higher raw material costs, which rose ₹61,000 per car YoY. As a result, the denominator—selling price and overall sales value—increased sharply, while the numerator—Ebitda—rose at a slower pace, creating the impression of margin compression.
A more relevant metric, therefore, is Ebitda per car. Ebitda per car (excluding other operating revenue) increased from ₹55,000 to ₹57,000. As a result, in absolute terms, normalized Ebitda rose a healthy 21.7% year-on-year to ₹6,166 crore.
Revenue grew 29.2% year-on-year to ₹47,534 crore, supported by 18% volume growth to 6.68 lakh units. Export volume growth slowed to just 4% in Q3FY26 versus 42% and 37% growth in Q2 and Q1, respectively. Meanwhile, domestic volume growth turned positive for the first time in three quarters of FY26, rising 21% year-on-year.
This was supported by Goods and Services Tax rate rationalization and Maruti’s price cuts on select models, following a 5% volume decline in each of the two preceding quarters. However, fresh challenges are emerging. Steel remains the largest commodity component in the raw material mix for car manufacturing.
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