Maruti is now officially bigger than its parent, Suzuki!

It’s a proud moment for Japan’s Suzuki. The reason is it’s offspring in India, Maruti has outgrown it in market value. Maruti's stock steeply rose 65% in the past year, swelling its market capitalisation to $19.73 billion (Rs 1.26 lakh crore) based on Tuesday's closing stock price of Rs 4,158.80 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, as per a news report by The Economic Times.

While most car makers are going through a rough phase, blame it on the sluggish automobile market, Maruti’s achievement calls for appraisal. For the Japanese company, the brightest spot is the Indian unit, which has turned into its biggest money-spinner, accounting for a quarter of revenue and a chunk of profit, reports the financial daily.

Barring Maruti, no other constituent of the CNX MNC - an index that captures the stock performance of top MNC subsidiaries - has a market cap close to that of the parent. The market value of Hindustan Unilever, for instance, is 22% of its Anglo Dutch parent Unilever, while that of Castrol India is just 3% of BP. For Maruti, too, the parent held an upper hand historically. Data compiled by ETIG show on average, Suzuki's market cap had been $5.6 billion more than Maruti's since the listing of the Indian unit in 2003. But the lead that Maruti has now taken over the parent could widen, as analysts and investors remain bullish on the Indian company but not so much on the parent. Analysts have been consistently upgrading their earnings estimate on Maruti on multiple triggers, such as falling discounts that add to margins, higher efficiency as more vehicles roll out of its factories, and volume growth driven by new launches and an improving economy, informs the news report.

Maruti's earnings per share is expected to more than double to Rs 278 in fiscal 2018 from Rs 126 in fiscal 2015, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Suzuki's earnings performance, meanwhile, has been weighed by its weak performance in Japan and markets outside Asia. It reported a 4% decline in operating profit for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015 and its outlook for a 6% increase in the operating profit estimate for fiscal 2016 was below consensus estimate. Analysts don't expect any major improvement in its stock price in the near future. "Our historic valuation analysis suggests that all the good news is already in Suzuki's share price, and, relative to peers, the stock looks quite expensive," CLSA analyst Christopher Richter wrote in a May 12 note, while advising clients to sell the stock.

Suzuki holds a 56% stake in Maruti. On a consolidated basis, as disclosed in Suzuki's fiscal 2014 annual report, 40% of its sales volume comes from India. In a vision 2020 document, the Japanese company said it expected the proportion of cars sold in India to reach 60% in 2020 from 40% now. This implies that the Indian unit will play an important role in achieving the target. Suzuki is gradually realising also that investment through the Indian subsidiary will yield better returns, not only for the Indian market but also for newer geographies such as Africa and Latin America, as per the news report.

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