Maruti Suzuki zooms to record high; m-cap crosses ₹4 lakh cr

Shares of Maruti Suzuki India Ltd rose as much as 4% in intraday trade on Wednesday, taking the market capitalisation of India's largest carmaker over ₹4 lakh crore — the first for any automaker in the country.

The stock of Swift and Brezza maker hit a record high of ₹12,724.95 on the BSE. The counter has gained 10% over the past month and 23% this year, outperforming the BSE Auto Index.

The carmaker reported a 15% year-on-year jump in wholesales in February. It dispatched 1,97,471 units last month. While sales in the mini and compact segment declined, sales of utility vehicles surged 82% to 61,234 units in February. Maruti Suzuki counts Brezza, Ertiga, Grand Vitara, and XL6 as utility vehicles.

Maruti Suzuki plans to increase its production capacity to about 4 million cars per annum by 2030-31, almost double from current levels. In January, the carmaker said it was planning to invest ₹35,000 crore to construct a new greenfield manufacturing facility in Gujarat. The new unit, expected to start operations in 2028-29, will produce an additional 1 million units annually.

Maruti Suzuki also plans to establish a fourth production line in its wholly-owned subsidiary Suzuki Motor Gujarat by investing ₹3,200 crore to produce electric vehicles in the future. The fourth line is expected to start operation from 2026-27.

With the completion of the fourth line, annual production capacity of SMG will increase from the current 750,000 units to 1 million units. Combined with the new plant in Gujarat, the total annual production capacity in Gujarat will be 2 million units.

Maruti acquired 100% stake in SMG by issuing shares worth ₹12,841 crore to its Japanese parent Suzuki Motor Corporation.

Suzuki Motor Corporation holds 58.19% stake in Maruti Suzuki.

The automaker plans to manufacture electric vehicles at its Gujarat plant, which is close to SMC's battery packing facility in the western state. It plans to launch six new EVs by 2030-31 to take on Tata Motors, India’s largest electric car maker.

Maruti Suzuki will roll out its maiden battery electric vehicle eVX by the end of 2024. “We plan to sell this model not only in India but also export to Japan and European countries,” says Toshihiro Suzuki, president, Suzuki Motor Corporation.

Maruti says the new plant in Kharkhoda, Haryana which is planned to start operation in 2025, the new plant in Gujarat and the fourth production line of SMG will help achieve the milestone of 4 million cars annually.

Rival Tata Motors briefly overtook Maruti Suzuki in terms of market capitalisation in January. Tata Motors holds the pole position with nearly 75% market share in the domestic electric vehicle market. EVs constitute 13-15% of its overall passenger vehicle sales in India. The carmaker is eyeing 50% of its wholesales to be electric by 2030.