Hero Honda Motors, India's largest motorcycle maker, on Tuesday said its net profit grew by 12 per cent to Rs 156.55 crore (Rs 1.56 billion) for the quarter ended September 30, 2003 from Rs 139.84 crore (Rs 1.40 billion) a year earlier.

Net sales went up by a modest two per cent to Rs 1,261 crore (Rs 12.61 billion) during the July-September quarter from Rs 1,235.90 crore (Rs 12.36 billion) a year ago.

For the first half ended September 30, 2003, net profit jumped by 12.67 per cent to Rs 314.37 crore (Rs 3.14 billion) from Rs 279 crore (Rs 2.79 billion) in the same period last year.

Net sales grew by three per cent year-on-year to Rs 2,584.72 crore (Rs 25.85 billion) from Rs 2,510.27 crore (Rs 25.10 billion), a company statement said in New Delhi.

Hero Honda sold 446,454 motorcycles during the second quarter, a 9.5 per cent rise over the previous year.

For the April-September period, motorcycle sales grew by 9.1 per cent to 905,233 units.

Hero Honda chairman Brijmohan Lall Munjal said the third quarter looked "very promising" due to good monsoon and the current festival season.

"We are confident of recording even better financial results for the full year period," he said.

The company's managing director Pawan Kant Munjal said the launch of new variants of Passion and Splendor motorcycles would help increase sales in the coming months.