Dragged down by rising input costs, adverse foreign exchange movement and higher royalty payout, the country’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Saturday reported 17.80 per cent decline in its net profit for the third quarter ended 31st December, 2010 at Rs 565.17 crore.

The company had posted a net profit of Rs 687.53 crore in the same period a year ago, MSI said in a statement.

Net sales during the third quarter this fiscal, however, rose by 26.49 per cent at Rs 9,276.73 crore as against Rs 7,333.77 crore.

“The third quarter this year compared to the same period last year was marked by pressure on margins primarily due to adverse foreign exchange movement and higher royalty payout,” the company said.

Increase in commodity costs during the quarter also impacted the margins, it added.

In terms of units, the company’s total sales grew by 28.16 per cent at 3,30,687 units as against 2,58,026 in the year-ago period.

Domestic sales during the quarter grew by 36.83 per cent to 2,99,527 units as against 2,18,910 units in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The growth was led by Alto, Wagon R and Swift. It had posted the highest-ever sales in the domestic market with 1,07,555 units in October 2010.

In November 2010, the domestic sales touched 102,503 crossing the 1 lakh milestone for the second time in the quarter.

Exports during the quarter was down by 20.34 per cent to 31,160 units from 39,116 units in the same period last fiscal, it said.