Maruti slips over impasse with employees

Maruti Suzuki dipped 2% post the company's announcement to bring forward the launch of its second Manesar plant and start commercial production in a day or two, instead of the month-end as planned earlier. The move to commission the new facility a month ahead of schedule comes in a bid to deal with the production impasse the company finds itself in. Workers at the first Manesar plant have been locked in a fresh stand-off with the management since Monday.

“Our engineers are working day and night to bring the second plant on stream. Being a state-of-the-art plant, the output with the same man hours will be at least 30-40% higher than the existing plant at Manesar. Since the company is short of manpower at this stage, starting operations at the second plant will be a shot in the arm," said a senior company executive.

Maruti Suzuki, the country's largest car maker,  reported 12.74% fall in sales for August to 91,442 units due to the ongoing labour unrest at its Manesar plant that affected production. The company has already lost production for four days (it produces 1,200 cars a day), even as it was able to roll out nearly 160 cars in the past two days.

The stock opened at Rs 1,080 and is currently trading at Rs 1,070.