India Hero Honda June qtr net up 83 pct

MUMBAI, July 29 (Reuters) - Hero Honda Motors Ltd HROH.BO, India's largest motorcycle maker on Wednesday reported an 83 percent rise in net profit for the June quarter beating forecasts on high sales volumes, new product launches and lower raw material prices. The company, in which Japan's Honda Motor Co (7267.T) holds 26 percent stake, reported a net profit of 5.00 billion rupees ($103 million), up from 2.73 billion a year earlier.

Net sales rose to 38.11 billion rupees from 28.44 billion year-ago.

A Reuters poll of 14 brokerage had forecast an average net profit of 4.59 billion rupees on net sales of 39.37 billion rupees.

Shares in Hero Honda, valued at $6.9 billion, rose 30.6 percent in the June quarter, lagging the 49 percent increases in the main index .BSESN and the sector index .BSEAUTO. ($1=48.4 rupees) (Reporting by Janaki Krishnan; Editing by John Mair)