Maruti Q2 FY27: consolidated PAT falls 26% YoY to ₹2,466 Cr despite 26% revenue growth

Maruti Suzuki's consolidated PAT fell 26.4% YoY to ₹2,466 Cr (28.5% QoQ, from ₹3,447 Cr) even as revenue from operations rose 26.0% YoY to ₹53,356 Cr — a sharp divergence between topline and bottom line. Net profit margin compressed to 4.6%, from 6.3% last quarter and 7.7% a year ago. Standalone told the same story (PAT ₹2,415 Cr, EPS ₹76.81, against consolidated EPS ₹78.44), so the divergence is not a basis artefact. The print missed Street expectations: brokerages (Zee Business, YES Securities via Upstox, BusinessToday Q2 preview) had pencilled a 12.8-14% YoY PAT decline to roughly ₹2,830-2,880 Cr; the actual decline came in at nearly double that. Revenue also landed slightly below the ₹53,755-54,100 Cr / 27-28% YoY range brokerages had flagged, so this was a volume-led topline that still undershot estimates once realised, with margins undershooting by a wider gap. The margin bridge is almost entirely a raw-material story. Cost of materials consumed rose to 70.3% of revenue from operations (₹374,885 million) versus 59.8% a year ago (₹253,241 million) — a jump of over 10 percentage points that dwarfs the ~1 point move in employee costs or other expenses as a share of revenue. Depreciation rose 15% YoY to ₹1,960 Cr, consistent with ongoing capacity expansion still in ramp-up rather than yet contributing offsetting volume leverage. The effective tax rate held steady at 23.4% versus 22.8% a year ago, confirming the miss is operating in nature, not tax-driven. Against the prior concall, management had flagged a cautious, 'recovery to continue but uncertain on sustainability' outlook, citing commodity-price moderation as a potential upside and no formal FY27 margin target. That upside did not materialise this quarter — input costs moved the wrong way — so the result reads as the cautious scenario playing out rather than the optimistic one. Among the quarter's other developments: domestic sales reached 236,013 units and production rose 22% YoY in September 2026, consistent with the strong unit-volume growth behind the revenue line; Maruti also won an ITAT order with a ₹13,000 Cr tax impact, but this is a contingent/legal matter not reflected in the quarter's reported tax expense; an NCLAT hearing on a separate matter was postponed; and the company incorporated a wholly owned subsidiary, OSCOE Foundation, alongside launching the VICTORIS AURUM Edition — both administratively relevant but not material to this quarter's financials. No management press release accompanied this filing, so there is no company framing to reconcile against the numbers. Going into Q3, the capacity build-out — Hansalpur Line IV (250K EV units, commenced July 2026) and the broader 500K-unit two-plant expansion guided for FY27-28 ramp — is the swing factor on whether depreciation and fixed-cost absorption normalise, while the raw-material cost ratio (70.3% this quarter) is the single number to track for any margin recovery.