INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Suzuki Motor Corp on Thursday forecast operating profit to fall by a quarter to 160 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in the year to March as
sales, including in its key Indian market, shrink amid the coronavirus pandemic
That prediction was more than an average estimate for 124.3 billion yen compiled from 14 analysts polled by Refinitiv
Indonesia, and Europe as people stay away from dealerships."We don't know what will happen with the coronavirus in India or what measures
the government will implement, so that makes the market difficult to predict," Suzuki's president, Toshihiro Suzuki said in a conference
India accounts for just over half of Suzuki's global car sales
Through its majority stake in Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, the company accounts for roughly one in every two cars sold in the country.Last
months.The forecast came as Suzuki posted a 73.6 billion yen operating profit in the three months ended Sept
30 compared with a profit of 55.9 billion yen a year earlier, according to Reuters' calculations
Japan's fourth-largest automaker had declined to give a full-year forecast when it reported its first-quarter results.
