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MUMBAI: Maruti Suzuki India is likely to operate just one shift at all its plants, with demand for cars slumping to multi-decade lows across the country and causing inventory to bloat ahead of the traditional festive season.The carmaker that sells one in two cars running on Indian roads might slash one shift even at the Manesar plant , which will now likely join the Gurugram & Gujarat facilities in operating below capacity, multiple people aware of the move told ET.The Manesar plant has an annual capacity of 750,000 units, and it makes Ertiga, Wagon-R, Swift, Dzire and Baleno cars.Production cuts at the maker of Swift and Baleno have meant hundreds of job losses for contractual staff. With all plants likely to move to a single shift, some more jobs are at risk, sources told ET.Maruti didn’t respond to ET’s query on realignment of production schedules at its plants and the likely impact on sales volumes and jobs.Late last month, Nissan announced a global layoff affecting 12,500 jobs, and about a seventh of those positions were likely to be shed in India.Passenger car sales in India have declined continuously, with July witnessing the worst shrinkage in about two decades.Monthly car sales have shrunk for nine months in a row, dropping in 12 of the previous 13 months.Kotak Institutional Equities cut the earnings forecast for Maruti Suzuki by 10-18% over FY20-22, mainly driven by 6-9% cut in volume estimates. The brokerage believes that volume growth for the industry is likely to remain challenging in FY20 due to the broader slowdown and the significant increase in car prices from regulatory changes (new safety and emission norms). Similarly, Credit Suisse cut volume and margins estimates for FY20 and FY21, translating into 15% and 9% EPS cuts, respectively.Maruti Suzuki has been taking periodic shutdowns at plants to adjust production. In August, the month just before Onam and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals, there are at least three days of shutdown planned, and these cuts were not in the original output schedule, said people in the know. In FY20 so far, Maruti Suzuki has cut production by 10%.