Maruti cuts prices to boost sales during festival season

Pune: Days after the government cut the corporate tax rate, Maruti Suzuki, India’s biggest car-maker, announced a reduction in prices by Rs 5,000 on showroom prices across 10 models with immediate effect.

This reduction of price will be over and above the current promotional offers for the company’s vehicle range, Maruti said.

The carmaker said the move was aimed at reviving demand by sharing “the benefits of corporate tax reduction with its customers”.

The Maruti Suzuki cars that will see a reduction in prices include Alto 800, Alto K10, Swift Diesel, Celerio, Baleno Diesel, Ignis, Dzire Diesel, Tour S Diesel, Vitara Brezza and S-Cross.

The announcement is aimed at boosting Maruti car sales during the upcoming festival season across the country. The nine-day Navaratri festival, which typically witnesses an uptick in sales, begins on September 29.

“This announcement around the festive season will help boost customer sentiment and revive the market to create demand,” the car-maker said.

Facing the worst sales slowdown in the last two decades, many car-makers have lined up hefty discounts and other offers to lure buyers.

Maruti Suzuki is offering discounts and other benefits in the range of Rs 40,000 to Rs 1,01,200 on its popular models.

After much pressure to take measures to revive the sagging economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on September 20 announced a cut in the corporate tax rate for domestic firms and new domestic manufacturing companies to 22 per cent from 30 per cent. For new manufacturing companies, the existing tax has been reduced to 15 per cent from 25 per cent.

More than two lakh jobs have been cut across automobile dealerships in India in the last four months due to the ongoing slowdown in the sector.

Among all categories, the passenger vehicles (PV) segment has been the worst hit, with sales, continuing to decline for almost a year.

But the recent announcement by the Centre could help reinvigorate the sector suffering from low demand and poor sales.

Earlier this week, R. C. Bhargava, Chairman at Maruti Suzuki, said that the car-maker expects sales of its cars in September to be higher than the previous month.

Domestic sales of Maruti Suzuki fell 34.3 per cent in August, one of the biggest monthly drops in sales in recent times.