Global spread helps Motherson Sumi tackle Covid-19 pandemic pain

The third part of the series looks at how the firm used its first-mover advantage to get production back on track

On April 29, Motherson Sumi, India’s largest auto component manufacturer, said it had managed to open up 80 of its 152 manufacturing units spread across the globe. That was just a month into the nationwide lockdown announced in India to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The lockdown lasted about two months and is still in place in pockets across the country, leaving manufacturers reeling. However, Motherson’s spread across the world has made it an outlier.

It operates 270 facilities across 41 countries. Even in terms of exports, the company’s strategy is clear. If exports to a country increase