The notorious lockout at the Maneser manufacturing facility and higher discounts dragged carmaker Maruti Suzuki's net profit down by more than 5 per cent in the July-September quarter.

India's biggest carmaker by volume said its profit slipped 5.4 per cent to Rs 227.50 crore after the deadly labour riot led to a month-long lockout at its Manesar facility, causing an output loss of more than Rs 1,300 crore. The company suffered a fall 9 per cent to 2.3 lakh units. The riot-hit plant resumed production on August 21.

Sales of its cars and sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) slipped 8.7 per cent in the three months to 230,376 vehicles.

Commenting on Maruti's quarterly results, Yaresh Kothari of Angel Broking said, "The numbers are below than the expectation as we expected higher overall realisation for the quarter. However, the profit is broadly in line."

In July-September quarter of 2011-12, the company had pocketed a profit of Rs 240 crore.

Hiked wage costs because of a new salary settlement also affected the company's quarterly profit.

Increasing demand for diesel cars slowed the growth of the company's petrol car segment. It may be noted here that some of Maruti's acclaimed models, such as the Alto and Estilo, don't have diesel variants.