Maruti Suzuki jumps 2% on price hike buzz

Moneycontrol Bureau

Shares of Maruti Suzuki is seeing buying interest while the market continued to be flat on September expiry series. It jumped over 2 percent in early morning trade on Thursday as the car manufacturer is going to hike prices of its entire range of models by up to Rs 10,000 from October first week.

"We have been wanting to raise the price for some time as our input costs went up severely, mainly on account of weakening of rupee. However, the market was not conducive. Now it has become inevitable," Mayank Pareek, COO (Marketing and Sales) of the company told PTI.

The quantum of price increase will vary between Rs 3,000 and Rs 10,000 according to different models and fuel specifications.

Depreciation in rupee has led to price increments by auto manufacturers. Tata Motors is planning to increase the prices of its passenger and commercial vehicles by around 1-1.5 percent. Hyundai and General Motors decided to increase vehicle prices by up to Rs 20,000. Toyota Kirloskar Motor had announced a hike in prices of its key models by up to Rs 24,000 with effect from September 21.

At 09:48 hrs Maruti Suzuki was quoting at Rs 1,403.60, up Rs 10.90, or 0.78 percent on the BSE.

(With inputs from PTI)