Maruti Suzuki India Limited Q3 FY22 Earnings Conference Call Insights

Key highlights from Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MARUTI) Q3 FY22 Earnings Concall

Management Update:

• MARUTI exported 205,450 vehicles in CY2021, the highest ever exports in any calendar year by the company. The company said about 90,000 vehicles could not be produced during 3Q22 due to the global shortage of electronic components. MARUTI hopes to increase production in 4Q, though does not expect to reach full capacity.

Q&A Highlights:

• Pramod Kumar from UBS asked if the company still holds the medium term plan in market share of 50%, looking at the market share for the last couple of years. Shashank Srivastava  ED said that the market share figure for December for wholesale was 48.3% and for retail it was 49.9%. However, the cumulative figure for the year was around 44%. Shashank added that looking at these numbers, cumulatively it might be difficult to reach 50% at the end of the year. In the years ahead, it’s feasible to target 50% market share.

• Pramod Kumar from UBS also asked about the company’s hybrid strategy and its thinking on this technology. Rahul Bharti ED answered that MARUTI will be focusing on all technologies. However, given the high upfront cost of batteries, the company believes hybrids are a power solution for now, which is scalable. Hybrids does 40% of the job of an EV.

• Amyn Pirani from JPMorgan asked about the sequential decline in raw material sales. Ajay Seth CFO said, there has been marginal improvement in commodities compared to 2Q, especially precious metals have seen a decline versus Q2. The company expects the commodity reduction to happen in Q4 if the steel prices come down.

• Amyn Pirani from JPMorgan also asked about currency, what’s MARUTI’s yen exposure. Ajay Seth CFO replied that the company’s direct yen exposure is now reduced to about 30 billion yen. On the vendor side, as a percentage of revenue, the exposure is about 50 billion yen.

• Kapil Singh of Nomura enquires about demand and the company’s outlook for industry growth for FY23.  Ajay Seth CFO answered that the CAGR has been declining for recent periods. The regulatory requirement of BS VI conversion prevented the growth in ’19, ’20. However, looking at the future, MARUTI expects CAGR growth in line with the economy of about 7-8%.

• Kapil Singh of Nomura also queried about order book. Ajay Seth CFO said the booking inflow has been steady. For Maruti Suzuki, the figure is about 6,000 on average per day. It’s a bit less in January so far. Ajay added that the build-up of pending payment happens as there is not enough vehicles to retail. So there has been no shortfall in booking inflow.

• Gunjan Prithyani from Bank of America asked about royalty, discount and retail volume numbers for the quarter. Ajay Seth CFO said that royalty in the quarter was at 3.6%, and the discounts were at 15,200 in the quarter. 3Q retail volume was 392,171 passenger vehicles and including Carry, it was 403,970.

• Raghunandhan N.L. with Emkay Global asked about CNG vehicle volume and market share for Q3 and also the future potential. Ajay Seth answered that volumes for April, December period was around 150,000. MARUTI hopes to close FY22 at around 237,000,  235,000 range. Last year, the similar figure was 160,000. And the previous year, it was 106,000. Going forward, the company expects CNG to have continued traction. And for the next year also, MARUTI expects good growth in CNG.

• Raghunandhan N.L. with Emkay Global also asks about the capex spend on a YTD basis, and full-year plan for FY ’22. Ajay Seth CFO replied that the company has spent, until December, INR2,233 crores. Plan for the full year is upwards of INR5,500 crores. This capex is divided between new models, R&D expenditure, facility and additional land purchases.

• Aditya Makharia from HDFC asked about the SUV launches in FY23 in JV with Toyota and if it will be sizable.  Ajay Seth CFO answered that the company has plan to further strengthen its portfolio in different segments, including the ones where MARUTI is weak in. Therefore the company added that one can expect a good strengthening of the SUV portfolio in the coming year.

• Jinesh Gandhi from Motilal Oswal questioned about the consistent drop in other income and what’s the sustainable level of other income.  Ajay Seth CFO said that company has two things to de-risk. One is shortened the tenure from 2-3 year to 1 year papers. Last year MARUTI had significant market-to-market gains due to declining interest rates. This year, on the contrary, MARUTI had small market-to-market losses. Average returns, on a 1-year yield, is now between 4.5% to 5%. So effectively, one should see an income of anywhere between INR450 crores or thereabouts, every quarter.