JCB India halts all operations for 10 days citing coronavirus surge

The company said it had sufficient inventory levels to support the demand for products during the pause period

The country’s leading manufacturer of earthmoving and construction equipment, JCB India, announced on Friday that it was suspending operations for 10 days across all its manufacturing facilities in in the counrty. The company cited the rising number of coronavirus cases as the reason for this pause.

“Due to an increase in the infection rate around us, the health and safety of our colleagues and their families has become even more important. We have decided to pause manufacturing operations for 10 days, starting May 1, 2021. This is a precautionary measure and applies to all our manufacturing locations at Ballabgarh, Pune and Jaipur,” said Deepak Shetty, chief executive officer and managing director, JCB India. 

The company said it had sufficient inventory levels to support the demand for products during this pause period. 

“We do not foresee any challenges in the availability of JCB products for our customers in India or for our export markets. All our customer and dealer facing functions will operate normally, while adhering to local guidelines. There will be no disruption in product support for equipment being used by our customers due to this pause,” the company said in a statement.

JCB has a dealership network with over 700 outlets across India. 

“It is important to break the chain of the infection. Most of our employees in our offices are already working from home and this temporary pause of Manufacturing activities will further help in lowering the active number of cases in and around our manufacturing facilities,” Shetty said.

JCB India manufactures over 60 products in nine product categories, which are sold in India and also exported to over 110 countries. The company has the largest design centre outside of the UK in Pune where it develops new technologies for the future.