Hyundai India's quarterly profit misses view on higher costs (updated)

Hyundai Motor India

02/02/2026 09:32

Corrects paragraph 3 and 8 to say sector reported a 21% rise in domestic sales, not 18% rise

Feb 2 (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor India HYUN.NS reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly profit on Monday, weighed by higher raw material and employee-related costs.

The company, a unit of South Korea's Hyundai Motor 005380.KS, reported a 6.4% profit rise to 12.34 billion rupees ($134.8 million) for the October-December quarter, falling short of analysts' estimate of 13.93 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Rising costs of key raw materials have taken the sheen off a strong quarter for Indian carmakers, during which domestic sales rose about 21% to a record high.

Last week, India's car market leader Maruti Suzuki MRTI.NS warned of higher steel and aluminium costs, while also flagging rising import costs due to China's export curbs on rare earth magnets.

Hyundai's expenses rose 8% during the quarter, with raw material costs spiking 14.8%. Quarterly revenue, meanwhile, grew 8% to 179.73 billion rupees.

Hyundai also said it recognised the impact of India's newly enacted labour codes as part of its employee benefits expense. Employee benefits expenses climbed 15.2% to 6.99 billion rupees.

The Creta SUV manufacturer was also hamstrung by weak sales in the domestic market, making it an outlier among India's biggest carmakers, all of whom benefited from the country's sweeping tax cuts that made most models more affordable during the festive period.

Hyundai's domestic sales grew 0.4%, while the industry reported a rise of 21%. Its local sales had been falling for the last six quarters, with analysts highlighting the company's increased reliance on its top-selling Creta.

($1 = 91.5775 Indian rupees)

 (Reporting by Nandan Mandayam and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

 ((Nandan.Mandayam@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))