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Our Bureau

New Delhi, Dec. 13 Maruti Suzuki India Ltd will be closing production at its plants for 10 days from the last week of December.

The closure would be a part of the company’s annual maintenance shutdown which takes place every year in two lean seasons — June-July or December.

“We will be closing from December 25 to January 3 as a part of our annual maintenance shutdown,” a Maruti official told Business Line.

According to dealers and market analysts, while the plant shutdown is an annual practice followed by most companies, this year, it would also help companies correct their inventory level.

Maruti, which produces about 2,300-2,400 cars a day and has the highest market share in the country, saw its domestic sales drop by 24 per cent.

Overall passenger car sales shrunk by 19 per cent, the first time in the current fiscal.

Dealers say that with production stopped, it would help reduce the stock of cars at their end.

“With car dealers also having huge stocks, companies are taking efforts to correct their inventory. But it would still take some time,” said Mr Gulshan Ahuja, Secretary General, Federation of Automobile Dealers Association.

While Hero Honda too has been closing its plant in December since the last three years, a company spokesperson said that the company was yet to decide on the shutdown for the current month. Similarly, Tata Motors and Hyundai officials too said that they would not be closing down in December.

While Tata Motors spokesperson said that the annual maintenance shutdown at the plant varied every year, Hyundai said it was likely to remain closed some time in January. This is despite anticipation of sales being worse in the current month than November.

“There is a demand for Tata Motors’ new model, Indica Vista, due to which it has to continue production,” said Mr Mahantesh Sabarad, an auto analyst from Centrum Broking.

More Stories on : Cars | Announcements | Stocks | Maruti Udyog Ltd

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