New Delhi: Indian manufacturers of two-wheelers and four-wheelers have laid off 15,000 staffers, ancillary units about 1,00,000 and several dealers are said to have closed down as per sources in the industry. Several companies have shut their assembly lines down for days at a time, shifts are being axed and jobs are being cut in thousands in the automobile industry. Manufacturers, ancillary units and dealerships’ closure is said to have caused job losses of at least a lakh in this financial year alone. According to news agency Reuters, at least five firms have cut or will shortly cut hundreds of positions in their workforce.
Other costs being more or less fixed and unavoidable, the industry has been drastically trimming their workforce and working hours to cut costs.
This problem has spread across vehicle lines and geographical lines and is affecting the whole industry that currently contributes to about 7 per cent of India’s GDP. It now poses a big challenge to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central government. Industry big wigs are apparently demanding and hoping for tax cuts and easy finance but given the present government’s reluctance to bail out private companies and even public sector firms too easily, the financial course of India’s auto sector will need to be watched very closely.
