Country's largest two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp today reported 20.41 per cent decline in net

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profit at Rs 487.98 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, due to lower sales and higher expenses.

The company had posted net profit of Rs 613.03 crore in the same quarter of the 2011-12 fiscal.

Net sales in the October-December quarter, 2012-13 stood at Rs 6,151.31 crore, as against Rs 5,983.55 crore in the year-ago period.

Volume sales during the quarter were down to 15,73,135 units, as against 15,89,286 units in the year-ago period.

During the third quarter, the company's 'other expenses' stood at Rs 625.33 crore, as against Rs 498.68 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Hero MotoCorp Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer Pawan Munjal said: "The last two quarters have been challenging for the Indian auto industry on account of the delayed monsoons, rising fuel prices and subdued sentiments."

He, however, said the company had good growth during the festive season selling over 1.1 million two-wheelers in the months of October and November.

"...Our despatches were consistently over five-lakh every month of this quarter. This trend may be an early sign of recovery and we hope the domestic two-wheeler industry will revert to higher growth rates in near future. Whenever that happens, we will be geared-up to meet the upsurge in demand," Munjal said.

Hero MotoCorp scrips ended the day down 0.92 per cent from the previous close on the BSE at Rs 1,818.5 share.