Maruti Suzuki India Limited Q1 FY23 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MARUTI) Q1 FY23 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• MARUTI said sales in the domestic market were at 398,494 units and exports were at 69,437 units, the highest ever in any quarter.

Q&A Highlights:

• Kapil Singh with Nomura asked how much cost inflation the company saw in 1Q23 and how much was passed on. Ajay Seth CFO said that cost inflation on commodities comes with a quarter lag. Therefore, 1Q23 was affected as the effective prices were for 4Q22 that had to be indexed. MARUTI had an impact on commodities all across of less than 2%.

• Kapil Singh with Nomura enquired about the latest order book update, and order inflows for Grand Vitara. Rahul Bharti ED replied that retail sales are broadly in line with wholesale. On the order book, the pending orders as of now is 3.5 lakhs. Brezza got 70,000 bookings and Grand Vitara 20,000 bookings.

• Gunjan Prithyani from Bank of America asked about the 200 bp impact of commodity. Ajay Seth CFO answered that the commodity impact was partially offset by selling price increase and sales promotion cost was higher from 4Q to 1Q. So the net impact was about 1.2%. There was also an increase in employee cost.

• Gunjan Prithyani from Bank of America also asked about yen depreciation if there was any meaningful impact in 1Q23. Ajay Seth CFO clarified that there was a benefit but nothing big. Also, indirect imports are a larger piece than direct. MARUTI will see a much larger impact going forward.

• Gunjan Prithyani of Bank of America enquired that on Grand Vitara, how company is planning to compete with diesel portfolio, given higher taxation for hybrid. Rahul Bharti ED said hybrid taxation is a share lower than diesel in the segment, so it’s not a disadvantage.

• Raghunandhan NL with Emkay Global asked about the yen exposure and if yen payables will be high single digit share as a percentage of revenue. Ajay Seth CFO said yen exposure has significantly come down vs. earlier years as it’s only in case of component imports from overseas. So the total exposure is close to about 3% of net sales. Indirect exposure is close to about 85 billion yen.

• Raghunandhan NL with Emkay Global asked that on the other income there was an impact of MTM losses and run rate going forward. Ajay Seth CFO answered the mark-to market impact came in 1Q23 due to steep increase in interest rates. But MARUTI expects to see a steady income going forward.

• Pramod Amte from InCred Capital asked about market opportunity for Grand Vitara. Rahul Bharti ED replied that today SUV segment is about 40% of the market with compact, middle the premium SUV. The middle SUV is more than 50% of the segment. In terms of pricing, the tech employed are cutting edge, which MARUTI believes it will get a commensurate price for that.

• Jinesh Gandhi from Motilal Oswal asked about the royalty for the quarter. Ajay Seth CFO said that royalty for 1Q23 continues to be at the level of 3.7%. Also now all the models have moved to a rupee based formula, making royalty fixed.