The nation's largest car maker, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd recently announced that quarterly profit plunged by 54.3%, lagging forecasts in the midst of high raw material costs, lower volumes and adverse impact of currency changes.

On Thursday, New Delhi-based Maruti informed that its net profit plunged to 2.14 billion rupees ($43.8 million) in its fiscal Q3 ended December.

The company confirmed that there is a fall by 2.8% in the net sales to 46.26 billion rupees.

The company said, "That compared with a net profit forecast of 2.48 billion rupees on net sales of 43.22 billion."

Almost half the Indian car market with models such as the best-selling Alto and Swift hatchbacks is owned by Maruti; of which 54.2% is owned by Japan's Suzuki Motor Corp.