New Delhi: The country's largest carmaker, Maruti Suzuki India on Wednesday said it is considering increasing the production capacity at its Manesar facility, and a decision on this is likely in a day or two.
"We are considering a capacity expansion at our Manesar plant... The decision on capacity expansion will be taken in one or two days," Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) Chairman R C Bhargava told reporters on the sidelines of the company's Annual General Meeting here.
The company would decide on increasing the capacity and
investment needed for the same in presence of its parent
Suzuki Motor Corporation's Chairman Osamu Suzuki, who has come
to India to attend the AGM.
Last week, Bhargava said the company would have
discussions with Suzuki on a range of issues such as further
investment in the country, ramping up production capacity and
handling the European export market.
The Manesar facility of the company, which manufactures
A-Star, SX4, Swift and Swift DZiRE, has a capacity of three
lakh units a year and last month crossed five lakh units mark
in production within 35 months of its commercial operations.
MSI also has a diesel engine plant, located inside the
Manesar facility, that produces 2.4 lakh units a year.
Speaking in the AGM, Bhargava said: "The worldwide
recession which started in 2008 has taught us many lessons and
also confirmed the validity of our strategies... we have
weathered the recession much better than others."
"We are debt free and have a healthy cash balance. We
have financed all growth from internal resources," Bhargava
said.
The company's efforts at cost cutting and improving
productivity, even in the good times, helped in making
"reasonable" profits despite the impact of higher commodity
prices and a weaker rupee, he added.
"We have recruited about 300 engineers in this period,
all other recruitments were stopped," he said.
On MSI's R&D capabilities, Bhargava said, "With strong
support from Suzuki, we are on course to develop our ability
to design and manufacture small cars."
The company is investing up to Rs 1,500 crore in building
test tracks and an R&D centre in Rohtak, Haryana.
Earlier last week Bhargava said the company had planned
to increase its exports over two-fold this fiscal to 1.5 lakh
units from about 70,000 units during 2008-09.
Bureau Report