india

Updated: Sep 10, 2019 17:09 IST

Chennai: Citing continued weak demand, global Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (M&HCV) major, Ashok Leyland, has declared production holidays at its various plants across the country for September.

While its plant at Ennore in north Chennai has 16 non-working days, it is 18 for Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

In a regulatory filing, the flagship company of the multinational Hinduja group, the auto giant, said, “We write to inform you that the following are the non-working days at our various plant locations during September 2019, due to continued weak demand for our products.”

This announcement comes close on the heels of last week’s announcement of a five-day holiday for the Ennore plant, where it is said to affect 5,000 employees, including 3,000 contract workers. And according to the earlier notice to the employees, the wages for these days would be decided in consultation with the Employees Union.

Apart from Ennore and Pantnagar, other plants having non-working holidays are Hosur (1-2) Alwar in Rajasthan (10 days) and Bhandara in Maharashtra (10 days).

Ashok Leyland is the second-largest manufacturer of M&HCV in the country and employs a huge workforce. According to reports, the company’s sales this year witnessed a 28% decline compared to the last year.

Meanwhile, auto ancillary units, especially foundries in Coimbatore, are facing a crisis. Most of the foundries are supply chains to auto majors and according to industry sources, a very large number of the small and medium foundries have been forced to reduce their usual three shifts to just one.

“As a consequence, migrant labourers from northern and eastern India employed in these units have left in thousands due to lack of employment. Gradually they have left over the last few months as we could not provide them work,” says Mani Raj, president of Small and Medium Foundries Association.

According to him, the manufacturers have been hit hard by the slump in the auto industry.