After Scaling Down Manufacturing, Maruti Suzuki To Stop Production Of New Cars In Haryana Plants For Two Days

Things are going from bad to worse for the Indian automobile industry as the country's largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) has said it has decided to suspend production at its Gurugram and Manesar plants in Haryana for two days.

According to the company, manufacturing operations at the two facilities will be halted on September 7 and 9. “Both days will be observed as no production days,” MSI said in a statement.

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This follows an earlier move of the company which had reduced its production by 33.99 percent in August, making it the seventh straight month of reduction. The company produced a total of 1,11,370 units in August as against 1,68,725 units in the year-ago month.

Passenger vehicles’ production last month stood at 1,10,214 units as against 1,66,161 units in August 2018, a decline of 33.67 percent. In July, the automaker had cut its production by 25.15 percent to 1,33,625 units.

On September 1, the company had reported a 33 percent dip in total sales last month at 1,06,413 units as compared with 1,58,189 units in August 2018.

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The crisis in MSI is seen as a reflection of the looming troubles in the industry as a whole, which is reeling under a severe slowdown.?

In August alone major automobile manufacturers including Maruti Suzuki India, Mahindra and Mahindra, Tata Motors, Honda, and Hyundai posted high double-digit dips in their sales figures.

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The Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had stated that the industry has pulled out all stops in offering attractive deals and discounts to the consumers

It is not just cars that are facing a fall in demand. Even the tractor sales have been down. According to rating agency CRISIL, weak growth in rural income, moderation in rural infrastructure spending, higher channel inventory, and the effect of a high base will lead to de-growth in tractor sales volume by 5-7% this fiscal, from an all-time high of 8.78 lakh units in fiscal 2019.