Maruti joins hands with AgVa Healthcare to scale up ventilator production

Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) on Saturday said it will work with AgVa Healthcare to help it rapidly scale up production of ventilators in the country in wake of coronavirus pandemic.

"An arrangement has been entered into with AgVa Healthcare, an existing approved manufacturer of ventilators," MSI said in a statement.

The company would work with AgVa Healthcare to rapidly scale up production of ventilators with intention of reaching a volume of 10,000 units per month, it added.

As per the arrangement, AgVa Healthcare will be responsible for the technology, performance and related matters for all the ventilators produced and sold by them, MSI said.

The auto major on its part will use its suppliers to produce the required volume of components and use its experience and knowledge to upgrade systems for the production and quality control of the higher volumes, it added.

MSI would also help, to the required extent to arrange financing, and obtain all permissions and approvals required to enable the higher production, the auto major said.

The company would provide these services free of cost to AgVa Healthcare, it added.

Besides, Krishna Maruti Limited, a joint venture of MSI with Ashok Kapur, will be manufacturing 3-ply masks for supply to Haryana and the central government.

Production is expected to start as soon as all approvals are received, MSI said.

Kapur will provide 2 million masks free of cost as his own contribution, it added.

Similarly, Bharat Seats Limited, a joint venture of MSI with the Relan family, would be manufacturing protective clothing as soon as all approvals are in place.

All manufacturing units will take maximum care to protect the safety and health of the workers in accordance with the government recommended practices, it added.

Already Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) has announced that it expects to come up with a sophisticated ventilator at just Rs 7,500, which otherwise costs up to Rs 10 lakh.

Tata Motors also plans to come up with manufacturing of ventilators.