The Hindu Business Line : Bajaj Auto to shut Waluj plant for 10 days

Pune, Dec. 15 Two-wheeler manufacturer Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL) has decided to shut down production at its Waluj plant near Aurangabad for 10 days this year against the five-day annual block closure that has been the routine for the past few years.

Without elaborating on the matter, Mr S. Ravikumar, Vice-President (Business Development), BAL, said the block-closure at the Waluj plant will extend from December 26 to January 4 (2009), both days inclusive. He added that no decision on extending the routine annual block-closure had been taken with respect to BAL’s two other plants at Chakan and Pantnagar.

Bajaj’s Waluj plant has an installed capacity of manufacturing around a million vehicles a year, and it is where the company makes the Platina and XCD range of motorcycles as well as three-wheelers, both for passenger and cargo applications. The Chakan facility is where the high-end bikes, primarily Pulsar variants, are produced.

Though there have been reports of cut-backs in the production at Waluj to keep in-step with market requirements, the immediate impetus for the forthcoming shutdown seems to be the lower off-take during the festival months. During November, normally a robust month of sales, the company posted 37 per cent decline (year-on-year) in its two-wheeler sales numbers.

For the past several years, the company has implemented block-closure for the Waluj plant for five days from December 28-January 1 as a routine measure.

This year, on account of the extended closure, over 4,000 workers at Waluj will have to take leave for two of the nine days’ closure. January 4 will be the weekly holiday and the plant will resume production on January 5.

According to workers, a notice issued on the matter a few days ago also clarifies that this prolonged shutdown was an “exceptional case” and should not be taken as a “precedent”.