Maruti Suzuki India is driving ahead with its expansion plans amid a slump in small car sales.
India’s No. 1 carmaker plans to have a capacity of around 4 million units by 2031.
Addressing the press last week, company chairman R.C. Bhargava confirmed work on the Kharkoda facility in Haryana with an annual capacity of 250,000 units is on track and will be commissioned next financial year.
The company’s present capacity in India is 2.25 million units. Maruti plans to invest over Rs 1.25 lakh crore over the next seven years.
Bhargava said the industry is going through a difficult time. “Growth in the industry is slower than in the past even when there are no strong headwinds such as semi-conductor shortages or Covid effect. Demand for cars has slowed down,” he said.
Asked if he was worried, Bhargava said: “Slowdown and upswings are part of the business. I would be worried if the company did not have the strength to ride the slowdown.”
Reiterating that festive sales have been good, Bhargava said: “Retail sales have been according to our expectations. There has been a 14 per cent growth in sales from the shraddh period in early October to Diwali, at the end of October. Inventory levels have come down, and enquiries and bookings were better than last year.”
Marriage season
Maruti Suzuki is banking on a “few lakhs marriages” slated for November to carry forward the festive sales momentum, according to a senior company official.
The company clocked retail sales of 2.02 lakh units last month, its highest for any October month on the back of festive sales.
“We are made to understand that some ‘few lakhs’ marriages are being planned across the country (in November). So we are pretty hopeful that it will also give us good traction in terms of our retail sales,” Maruti Suzuki India Ltd senior executive officer, marketing and sales, Partho Banerjee told PTI.
With the festive season giving a much-needed boost, the company is confident of staying on track with the forecast of 4-5 per cent growth for the ongoing fiscal.
