Including a deferred tax liability of Rs 211 crore, Bajaj’s profit grew only 9 per cent to Rs 2,005 crore. | Photo: X@_bajaj_auto_ltd
India’s Bajaj Auto posted a 21 per cent rise in second-quarter adjusted profit on Wednesday, helped by higher domestic sales of its motorcycles.
The ‘Pulsar’ motorcycle maker reported a standalone adjusted profit of Rs 2,216 crore ($263.8 million) in the quarter, compared with Rs 1,836 crore a year earlier.
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However, including a deferred tax liability of Rs 211 crore, Bajaj’s profit grew only 9 per cent to Rs 2,005 crore. The tax liability was to account for a change in the way debt mutual funds will be taxed.
India had removed long-term tax benefits for debt mutual fund investments made after April 2023 in its budget last year.
This year, the government retroactively removed the benefits for investments before April 2023 as well.
Two-wheeler manufacturers have benefited from a healthy monsoon that put more money in rural India’s regions, a key demographic for entry-level motorcycles like Bajaj’s ‘Platina 110’.
Meanwhile, urban customers bought premium motorcycles, boosting motorcycle makers’ margins. For Bajaj, this segment includes its 200cc-plus motorcycles such as the popular ‘Pulsar’ models.
The Pune-headquartered company’s domestic two-wheeler sales – which make up about 64 per cent of its total for two-wheelers – jumped 26 per cent to 6,36,801 units, according to company data.
This includes sales of its ‘Chetak’ brand of electric scooters that have expanded at an aggressive pace.
Its remaining two-wheeler sales comprise of exports, which grew 5.4 per cent, following a gradual recovery in its African and South Asian markets.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
First Published: Oct 16 2024 | 5:14 PM IST
