Coronavirus lockdown: Tata Motors resumes operations at two plants

Tata Motors on Wednesday said it has commenced operations at its Pantnagar (Uttarakhand) and Sanand (Gujarat) facilities after getting approvals from relevant government authorities.

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The other plants in Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Dharwad (Karnataka), Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) and Pune (Maharashtra) are in final stage of readiness and expect to begin production over the next few days, Tata Motors said in a statement.

The commencement of operations follows receipt of all necessary approvals from relevant government authorities, it added.

"Our utmost priority is the safety and wellbeing of our employees, customers and ecosystem partners. Therefore, we restart operations with limited, essential staff in each plant, adhering to all mandated safety norms while efficiently meeting operational requirements," Tata Motors CEO and MD Guenter Butschek said.

The support and cooperation extended by local authorities, state and central government, union partners and dedicated workforce have been instrumental for a smooth restart, he added.

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"We will scale operations in a graded manner as the entire enabling ecosystem of suppliers, vendors, dealers and customers comes up to speed," Butschek said.

The company is cautiously optimistic and staying agile to cater to an evolving demand, he added.

Nearly 200 dealerships and 300 workshops for passenger vehicles and over 400 sales outlets and 885 workshops for commercial vehicles have begun operations with a new set of standard operating procedure (SOPs), the auto major said.

The company used the lockdown time to design new ways of working, respecting the mandatory safety norms and aggressively adopting digital tools, it added.