Why Maruti Suzuki is counting on lakhs of weddings in November

With wedding bells ringing across the country, Maruti Suzuki India is revving up its engines for what it hopes will be a bumper month of sales.
After a record-breaking October, where the company clocked in retail sales of 202,402 units—the highest for any October—Maruti is betting that the wedding season in starting November will keep the momentum going.
“We are made to understand that some ‘few lakhs’ marriages are being planned across the country (in November). So we are pretty hopeful that it will also give us good traction in terms of our retail sales,” Partho Banerjee, Senior Executive Officer of Marketing and Sales, told news agency PTI.
With a wedding season that looks to be packed, Maruti is counting on those joyful celebrations to translate into car sales.
Banerjee noted that this November is could have an all-time high of about 11 or 12 wedding days. “We are hopeful that in November, since so many marriages are there, the momentum will carry and that’s what we are looking forward to,” he added.
The festive season already provided a much-needed boost, and Maruti Suzuki is optimistic about maintaining its growth trajectory of 4-5% for the current fiscal year. The company reported a cumulative growth of 4% from April to October, with a stellar 22.4% growth in October alone. If this wedding season proves fruitful, Maruti could be cruising towards a solid finish for the year.
In the wake of the robust October sales, Maruti has also trimmed inventory levels significantly—by over 40,000 units. Their network stock is now comfortably around one month, a far cry from the overflowing lots of the past.
“We have corrected our network stock by more than 40,000 units. We calibrated our production supplies, and now our network stock is almost one month. We have been able to bring network stock to 30 days,” Banerjee explained.
On the subject of discounts, Maruti has adopted a more personalised approach, allowing regional teams to determine pricing strategies based on local demand. “What we have done is that we have made it very market-specific. Now we are not controlling it from the head office. We have allowed our field team to take the calls based on the market needs as each market behaves in a different way. We need to respect the customer’s viewpoint, and accordingly, we need to act actually,” he said.
As for potential price hikes in January, Banerjee hinted, “Our finance team is examining that, but it’s too early to comment.”
So, as couples across India prepare for their weddings, Maruti Suzuki is keeping its fingers crossed that love will also translate into some impressive car sales