India's largest automaker Maruti Suzuki will limit exports to the last year's level due

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to capacity constraints, a top official of the carmaker has said.

"We are not competing in exports (with other carmakers) ... We are short of capacity. This year exports will not go beyond last year", Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava said.

Maruti Suzuki exported 1.47 lakh units in 2008-09, the highest ever export figures, with the compact car A-star alone clocking over 1.27 lakh units.

'A-star' was exported to European countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Major non-European export markets for the car include Algeria, Chile, Indonesia and neighbouring countries.

South Africa, Hong Kong, Australia and Norway were new markets where the company's cars were exported during the year

To address increasing demand for its products, Maruti Suzuki has commenced work to increase capacity at the Manesar plant. "We have started work at Manesar. But that will take time (to reach full capacity), which would be by 2012" he told PTI.

In March 2010, the company had announced a Rs 1,700 crore investment for expanding production by 2.5 lakh units at its Manesar plant.

Production capacity after the expansion will reach 12.50 lakh units by 2012.