New Delhi : Suzuki Motors sells its entry-level car, the Alto, for nearly 1 lakh less in India than it does in China, one of the most price-competitive markets in the world, because it's Indian operations are much more efficient.

"We are even better than China in terms of realisation and operational efficiencies, and the Alto is priced lower here than in China," Shinzo Nakanishi, MD and CEO of Maruti Suzuki India, told ET. "Maruti is Suzuki's most efficient entity, making cheaper cars but offering higher profits to the parent company," he added.

In China, the Alto is available in the price band of `3.2 lakh to `3.96 lakh (44,900-58,900 yuan) compared to `2.4-2.8 lakh in India. Maruti sells around 240,000 units of the Alto a year and is targeting at a monthly clip of 25,000 vehicles. India's best-selling car is also the segment leader in China where Suzuki operates through a joint venture, Chongqing Changan Suzuki Automobile.

Mr Nakanishi, however, refused to divulge the profit margins on each car sold in China and India. Maruti last week launched the high-end K10 variant of Alto with the new engine K-Series engine at a price range of `3.03-3.16 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi). In China too, last month, Chang'an Suzuki introduced new variants of the Alto called the Alto Cool with manual transmission coming at `3.65 lakh and automatic transmission priced at `4.43 lakh.

First launched in 1979, Suzuki has so far sold more than 10 million Altos around the world. Suzuki's net income for the first quarter rose seven-fold to `814 crore, driven by robust domestic sales and a strong showing by Maruti Suzuki in which it has a 54.4% stake. The Indian company, however, saw a 20% drop in net profit in the first quarter as it paid higher royalty to Suzuki for sharing its new technology and latest products.

Maruti in its 26 years operations has developed into a behemoth with annual sales of more than 870,000 units in the last fiscal and cornering around 50% of the market.