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New Delhi , Nov. 4

MARUTI Udyog Ltd (MUL) is likely to throw open the second phase of its second voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) next week, this time targeting employees at the shop floor.

Supervisors, assistant supervisors, technicians and other workers at Maruti's manufacturing facility at Gurgaon (Haryana) near here are eligible to opt for this round of VRS, which the company is implementing as part of its initiatives to drive down costs.

Company sources say that Maruti is targeting to reduce 400-500 workers through this round of VRS. In the first phase, according to the MUL Managing Director, Mr Jagdish Khattar, 267 employees at the managerial level accepted the VRS offer.

At the end of last fiscal, Maruti had around 4,590 employees.

Maruti announced last week that it had spent Rs 29.4 crore on the first phase of the second VRS. Through the first VRS, implemented in October 2001, the company had reduced the strength of its workforce by 1,050 employees at a cost of Rs 65 crore.

Maruti Udyog, which went public in June this year through a hugely successful initial public offering (IPO), is offering VRS to its employees under a three-year strategy called `Challenge 50'.

Through this initiative, Maruti seeks to achieve global standards by reducing the cost of production of a vehicle by 30 per cent.

The expenditure on the VRS would be covered in a little over two years, as its wage bill would come down after the completion of the scheme. Shares of Maruti closed at Rs 347.95 at the Bombay Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

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