Bajaj Auto Q1 records net profit falls by 53.1 pc to Rs 528 cr

Net sales for the quarter under review dropped 61 per cent to Rs 2,948.62 crore from Rs 7,565.01 crore in the year-ago quater.

"Q1FY21 has been an extremely challenging quarter due to the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. Lockdown and other precautionary measures resulted in disrupted supply lines and a sharp decline in overall demand," Bajaj Auto said.

"The impact of this pandemic was experienced in India and in countries across the globe that we export to. While we have restarted operations, sporadic localised lockdowns are disrupting the supply chain and impacting the ability of the business to return towards normalcy," it said.

Ebitda for the quarter came in at Rs 441 crore compared with Rs 1,250 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Ebitda margin at 14.3 per cent was down 180 basis points from 16.1 per cent reported in same period last year. It was still better than 11 per cent margin ET poll had projected.

The Company said that it has controlled fixed cost spends across all plants and locations. "In addition, marketing and advertisement spends were also curtailed," it told stock exchanges.

It added that the domestic market of commercial vehicles was severely impacted due to the pandemic. The industry recorded a decline of 91 per cent in volumes. Being a market leader, Bajaj Auto was impacted the most, it said.

Sales in the domestic motorcycle market was nil for April and was impacted for a large part of May. Only in June did Bajaj Auto see a decent recovery. That month, the firm said its performance was better than the industry.