Honda to start double-shift at Tapukara plant, hire 1,000 more this year

The Indian arm of Japanese automobile maker Honda Motor Co plans to hire around 1,000 people in India as it looks to start a second production shift at its Tapukara plant by the end of this financial year.

The company's wholly-owned subsidiary Honda Cars India Ltd (HCIL) is targeting an almost 50 per cent jump in sales to 2 lakh units in 2014-15.

"When we will start the second shift at the Tapukara facility, we will require more manpower. We think we will add 800-1,000 people in our overall headcount in India by the end of this fiscal," HCIL senior vice president (marketing and sales) Jnaneswar Sen told PTI at the plant.

HCIL currently has a total strength of around 9,000 employees through direct and indirect employment at its two facilities in Greater Noida and Tapukara, he added.

"Over 3,000 people are working at this moment in the Tapukara complex, of which 2,200 are direct staff of HCIL. All the new people that we are planning to hire will be employed here," Sen said.

The total installed capacity of the plant is 1.2 lakh units in two shifts and the company may also consider to ramp it up in the next 2-3 years as it targets sales of 3 lakh units a year by 2016-17, he added.

Honda Motor Co also plans to nearly double sourcing of auto components, including engine parts, from India to over Rs800 crore during 2014-15.

The company has invested Rs3,526 crore on the Tapukara plant, which also makes engines and exports components to South-East Asia, the UK and Latin America.