Maruti Suzuki plans fresh recruitments next month

India’s largest carmaker Maruti Suzuki on Tuesday said its priority at present is to have sufficient manpower to reach desired levels of production.

“Our immediate task is to start selection from our contract workers to make them permanent,” Maruti Suzuki Chairman R C Bhargava told Deccan Herald, adding that the company would hire new workers to augment production at the earliest and the process will begin on September 2.

Maruti, which accounts for almost 40 per cent of all cars sold in India, had declared a lockout on July 18 after clashes between workers and management over pay had left one dead, scores injured and parts of the plant burned out.

Normal production soon

The Haryana-based plant, which manufactures four models, namely Swift, Dzire, A-Star and SX4, is expecting resumption of normal production soon.

“We have begun production today (Tuesday). Let us see when we resume full production level,” Maruti Suzuki India Chief Operating Officer (Administration) S Y Siddiqui said.

Siddiqui, however, said that the company will be more concerned about the quality of production than merely reaching the numbers.

“We don’t mind if the numbers are a trifle lower on side, but there will be no compromise on quality,” he said.

To start with, about 150 cars are expected to be rolled out each day instead of the plant’s normal capacity of 1,500-1,700 units. Production will be gradually ramped up at the plant, which has an annual capacity of 5.5 lakh units.

Maruti’s shares rose close to 2 per cent on Tuesday. The stock had fallen almost 4 per cent since the plant was closed.