New Delhi, Mar 9: India's automobile major Maruti Suzuki on Saturday decided to suspend the production of petrol cars at its Gurgaon plant for a day, to cut inventory costs amid declining sales attributed to rising fuel prices.
The plant rolls out models like M800, Alto series, WagonR, Estillo, Dzire and Ertiga.
It boasts of a capacity of producing over 2,000 cars in a single day.
A trade union leader termed this production cut as consequent to the rising prices of fuel, especially petrol.
“This (shutdown of the plant) is an effect of the increasing prices of petrol. This inflation is affecting regular lives of people as well. Be it a farmer, labourer or a common man, this affects everyone. It seems that this inflation is hitting big companies as well,” said Secretary of Maruti Suzuki Trade Union, Kuldeep Chandu.
He informed reporters that the wages of the employees would not be deducted on account of this shutdown.
Moreover, only the production unit was closed. It was a normal working day for the company's other departments, like marketing and administration, he said.
Production was halted only at the company's Gurgaon plant. The neighbouring Manesar plant operated as on normal other days.
Earlier, production at Manesar plant had come to a standstill, as the workers participated in a nation-wide trade union strike to protest against government economic policies, paralysing banking services and public transport.
Maruti's sales in February fell 8 percent from a year earlier, with the industry bracing for its first decline in annual sales in a decade, as sluggish economic growth continues to weigh on demand.
