Maruti Suzuki, the country's biggest automaker, reported a fall of 52.2 per cent in sales for the month of October following prolonged labor unrest in its plants.

The company's production was 40,000 units lower due to labor strike and it was able to sell only 55,595 units in the month of October. However, the company expects the production at its plant in Manesar to reach the normal level of production sometime in December.

The plant was producing about 1,200 cars per day before the labour trouble began in June this year. The two week long strike came to an end after a tripartite agreement that reinstated 64 dismissed permanent workers and took back 1,200 casual workers. The management has not accepted 30 of the workers back into the premises.

The company has been offering heavy discounts to its customers in order to push sales higher in the last quarter. MSI Chief Financial Officer Ajay Seth said that the average discount during the July-September period increased to Rs 13,500 per car from Rs 9,500 per car.

Earlier, the company had posted a 59.81 per cent fall in net profit to Rs 240.44 crore for the quarter. The shares of the automaker were trading at Rs 1118.70, down 0.72% on the BSE.