Maruti won’t restart Manesar plant till safety assured

Maruti Suzuki's Manesar plant is likely to remain closed till mid-August, as the company has reportedly asked its component vendors to discontinue supplies for two more weeks.

Senior company officials told Hindu Business Line that at a production planning meeting held last Wednesday, it was decided not to start operations at Manesar for at least two more weeks.

''For the next fortnight, we have not accounted for any production from Manesar. We have a production meeting every two weeks, after which we communicate to suppliers so that they have a tentative idea and inventories don't stack up,'' the official said.

At present, officials from parent firm Suzuki Motor Corp, Japan, are completing their assessment of the damages and are running a final check on the machines in the production line.

Production is likely to commence only when arrests of all those involved in the clash have been made and security of officials is ensured.

In all, the carmaker is expected to lose about Rs2,700 crore in the month-long closure on non-production of key models such as the Swift and Dzire. The Manesar-made vehicles accounted for 40 per cent of Maruti's sales between April and June this year.

Component makers, who are losing about Rs43 crore daily on non-supply to Manesar, could in all lose Rs1,070 crore over a month-long closure of the plant.

According to a company official, vendors' accumulated losses till now are estimated to have touched about Rs600 crore.