india

Updated: Sep 26, 2019 23:01 IST

Faced with the continuing sluggishness in the commercial vehicles market, Ashok Leyland, the Hinduja Group’s flagship company on Thursday announced five more non-working days at its major production facility at Ennore in Chennai.

In a notice to employees, the management said that September 29, September 30, October 1, 8, and 9 will be non-working days. Wages for four of the five non-working days would be decided after talks with the employees union, it added.

Those employees whose service is essential during the above days would be intimated individually through the department heads.

This is the third time that the auto major is going ahead with cutting production, citing continued weak demand for its products. It follows the 16 days of non-working days declared earlier in September second week at the Ennore factory.

The same reason of slowdown was cited then when the company had announced a total 59 non-working days at all its plants across the country with the highest 18 days for its Pantnagar unit in Uttarakhand.

Ashok Leyland has a total workforce of about 5000, including 3000 contract employees at Ennore.

Apart from Ennore and Pantnagar, it has plants at Hosur in Tamil Nadu, Alwar in Rajasthan and Bhandara in Maharashtra.

Ashok Leyland is the second largest manufacturer of Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles, employing a huge workforce. It major revenue comes from sales of trucks. According to reports, the company’s sales this year witnessed a 28 per cent drop compared to last year.