Two firms owned by city-based conglomerate TVS group have announced two-day “non-working days” for their employees citing “business slowdown across sectors”, amplifying further the mounting troubles of the automobile sector.

In a related development, Hero Motors, the country’s largest two-wheeler maker, also declared that its plants would be shut till April 18 as part of annual routine and also to adjust production in line with “current market demand”.

"While this has been part of the annual holiday calendar on account of Independence Day, Raksha Bandhan and the weekend, it also partly reflects the prevailing market demand scenario," Hero Motors said.

While Sundaram-Clayton, which is a leading supplier of aluminium die castings to automotive and non-automotive sectors, has shut down its factory located in Padi, on the outskirts of the city, for two days – Friday and Saturday (August 16 and 17), another group company Lucas TVS has declared two-day “non-working days” for its employees for the same period.

“Sundaram-Clayton Limited (SCL), a TVS Group Company, and a leading Indian manufacturer and supplier of aluminium die cast products to domestic and global automotive OEMS, has declared August 16 and 17, 2019 as non-working days for its Padi factory. This is due to business slowdown across sectors,” the company said in a statement.

The notice by Lucas TVS also said the company would analyse the situation and decide whether to extend the number of non-working days. The notice also indicated that this is not the first time that non-working days are announced for the employees.

The development comes close on the heels of TVS reportedly closing down nearly 20 dealership firms owned by it in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The notices by the three companies come amidst slowdown in the automobile sectors with more than 200 dealerships of passengers cars of various brands closing down in the past 18 months.

Both Lucas TVS and Sundaram Clayton belong to the USD 8.5 billion TVS group.