Feb 2 (Reuters) - India's top carmaker Maruti Suzuki expects ongoing production constraints to persist for "a few more months," an executive said on Monday, following the company's report of flat domestic sales alongside higher exports for January.
The company, a unit of Japan's Suzuki Motor, has been struggling to keep pace with rising local demand, with waiting periods for mass-market cars such as the Wagon R stretching beyond a month.
The carmaker is currently using some production lines to assemble cars across various segments and plans to add additional capacity in 2026.
Maruti has about 175,000 pending bookings and is running plants on Sundays and public holidays to catch up with demand, Partho Banerjee, senior executive director, marketing and sales, told reporters.
"This production constraint will stay for a few more months. Our production team is working, and very soon maybe we will be able to add some more capacity and serve our customers in a shorter period," Banerjee said.
The firm, India's largest car exporter, is assessing which models it could ship to Europe under India's trade agreement with the European Union, the executive said.
While local sales rebounded after New Delhi's sweeping tax cuts in late September last year, overseas shipments have been strong, led by demand from Japan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia.
For January, Maruti's domestic sales rose just 0.5% to 174,529 units, with sales of small cars declining 9.8% while those of utility vehicles rising 16% from a year earlier, data released on Monday showed.
Exports surged 88% to a record high 51,020 units in January.
Domestic sales from October to January rose 16.5%, while exports advanced 22%.
On Sunday, rivals Hyundai Motor India and Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles posted their highest-ever monthly domestic sales, while SUV maker Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 25% rise in monthly dispatches.
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
By Nandan Mandayam
