Maruti is top passenger car exporter from India

In the first half of fiscal, MSI shipped 57,300 units followed by Volkswagen India with 50,410 vehicles

Cricketer M.S. Dhoni at the unveiling of the special edition of Maruti Alto in Hyderabad. (File Photo)

Maruti Suzuki India has become the largest passenger cars exporter from India in the first half of the ongoing fiscal, dethroning Hyundai Motor India Ltd. which has now been pushed to the fourth spot behind Volkswagen and General Motors.

In the April-September period this fiscal, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) exported 57,300 units of passenger cars, a rise of 6% from the 54,008 units in the year-earlier period, according to the latest data by Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM).

The long-running number one exporter, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. (HMIL) saw a sharp decline of 29.25% to 44,585 units compared with the 63,014 units in the year-earlier period.

Hyundai slips

The company is now behind Volkswagen and General Motors India in terms of export of passenger cars from India.

During the first half of the fiscal, Volkswagen India exported 50,410 units, recording a growth of 16.92%.

It is now the second-largest exporter of passenger cars from India behind MSI.

Last year, it had exported 43,114 units during the same period. Interestingly, General Motors (GM), which had, on May 18 this year, decided to stop selling its vehicles in India after struggling for more than two decades to make a mark, is now the third-biggest exporter of passenger cars from the country.

GM posts growth

In the first half of the fiscal, GM exported 45,222 units as against 30,613 units in the year-earlier period, a growth of 47.72%.

The company exports vehicles from its manufacturing plant at Talegaon in Maharashtra.

It had sold its first plant at Halol in Gujarat to MG Motor India, an arm of China’s SAIC.

Another U.S. auto major, Ford, also posted impressive growth in exports of passenger cars from India during the period.

The company’s overseas shipments stood at 42,412 units as against 31,467 units in the same period last fiscal, rising 34.78%.

Nissan Motor India, which was the third-biggest exporter last year, saw its overseas shipments during the first half of the fiscal decline by 37.11% to 30,872 units, from 49,091 units in the same period last fiscal.

Nissan now occupies the sixth spot.