Ashok Leyland scales down production across plants as demand dips

Hinduja group flagship Ashok Leyland on Monday said it has curtailed production at its manufacturing plants due to dip in demand with second wave of COVID-19 sweeping across the country.

The company has carefully studied the demand situation, and efforts are being made to match the demand on the one hand, while being cognisant of the disruptions in the supply situation, Ashok Leyland said in a regulatory filing.

"The demand outlook for all our products is expected to be affected temporarily. Accordingly, the operations of our plants have been scaled down and are expected to work for 7-15 days in May. We will continue to respond to the COVID situation in the country as it unfolds," it added.

At the same time, the company would continue to meet the requirement of defence vehicles and also ensure support of essential parts and aggregates for commercial vehicle portfolio, enabling movement of essential goods and services, the Chennai-based firm noted.

With a surge in COVID-19 cases across the country, various auto companies have either taken a temporary break from production for a few days or have scaled down manufacturing in order to adjust inventory with a dip in demand.

The company, which is the second largest commercial vehicle maker in the country, noted that it is committed to the wellbeing of its personnel, their families and the extended ecosystem, including customers, dealers and suppliers.

"With health and safety first as the focus, our emergency response team, a high level task force responsible for managing COVID related protocols has revisited all the standard operating procedures and is ensuring the implementation of the same," it said.

Vaccination of employees and families is being monitored and enabled through vaccination camps across all facilities, it added.

On Monday, the daily COVID-19 cases in India showed a slight dip with 3,68,147 new coronavirus infections being reported in a day, taking the total tally of cases to 1,99,25,604.

The death toll has increased to 2,18,959 with 3,417 daily new fatalities.