Maruti follows Tata and Hero in raising prices across models from April 1

Maruti Suzuki has announced a price hike for the second time in three months. The Indian auto major will increase prices from April varying across models. The company has cited increased cost pressure driven by overall inflation and regulatory requirements for the measure.

The company in its press release has said that it is trying to reduce costs and partially offset the increase but it has become imperative to pass on some of the impacts.

It was only in February that Maruti raised the price of its IGNIS model by Rs 27,000 across variants after taking a price hike in January across models citing similar reasons.

It is not just Maruti though. Many other auto majors will be hiking prices come April. Tata Motors recently announced a price hike of approximately 5 percent for its commercial vehicle portfolio after reporting strong sales for the CV segment in February. Hero MotoCorp one of the leading two-wheeler manufacturers will also hike prices by around 2 percent for its select motorcycles and scooters.

"There was a loss in production in January & February due to the semiconductor issue. We are facing short supply in some models resulting in a higher waiting period. There is a bit of a slowdown in booking momentum & enquiries over the last few weeks. Higher inflation has led to lower disposable income and has dampened consumer sentiment, "Shashank Srivastava of Maruti Suzuki told CNBC-TV18 on March 16.

Maruti reported above-estimate auto sales figures of 1.72 lakh total sales in February topping Nomura’s estimate of 1.65 lakh units. The company’s domestic sales saw a rise of 10.8 percent  and total sales were up nearly 5 percent for the month.

Commenting on the auto sales number for February Shashank Srivastava told CNBC-TV18 that drop in exports was due to shipment delays and retail sales have been lower. Rural sales could get impacted due to EL Nino and expect 5-7 percent growth for the auto industry in FY24.

Marui Suzuki stock is trading with a gain of more than a percent on Thursday and has fallen more than 3 percent this month.