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 Indian tyremaker MRF reported a more-than-five-fold surge in first-quarter earnings on Thursday, beating estimates, as raw material prices eased and demand for higher-priced vehicles from consumers in urban areas held steady.

Standalone profit from continuous operations jumped 417% to 5.81 billion rupees ($70.21 million) for the quarter ended June, from 1.12 billion rupees, a year earlier, according to a regulatory filing.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of almost 3.83 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Earlier this week, MRF's larger rival CEAT posted a nearly 16-fold jump in profit.

Tyre companies reaped the benefits of a fall in rubber prices, a key raw material for the industry, with prices having fallen by 20%-25% over the last year through May, according to HDFC Securities.