Industrial battery major Amara Raja Batteries Wednesday said its net profit for the first quarter of fiscal year 2006 grew by six percent and sales by 59 percent over the same period last year.

Profit after tax for the quarter ended June 30 stood at Rs.32.1 million as against Rs.30.2 million for the same period last year, while sales grew to Rs.672.3 million.

The highlight of the quarter was an OE (original equipment manufacturing) deal with Hyundai Motor India Ltd, whereby Amara Raja is expected to supply 60,000 batteries over a 12-month period.

The company also commenced supplies of its range of batteries exclusively to all three variants of Maruti's latest car - Suzuki Swift.

Amara Raja has ongoing automotive agreements with Ashok Leyland, Fiat, General Motors, Hindustan Motors, Honda, Hyundai Motors India, Mahindra and Mahindra, Maruti and Tata Motors.

Managing director of Amara Raja Batteries Jayadev Galla Wednesday said: "Both our industrial and automotive battery volumes have achieved significant growth over the first quarter."

The company exports its batteries to Japan, Singapore, China, Australia and Greece.