Reportedly a prolonged sales slowdown has plunged india, the world’s fourth-largest automobiles market, into a labor crisis with tens of thousands of workers losing their jobs in the past few months across automakers and their parts suppliers.
Almost 40,000 to 50,000 workers have been retrenched at Gurugram and Manesar in Haryana, the country’s biggest automotive hub, as original equipment manufacturers and vendors have reduced their contract labor force, said several people aware of the developments. The situation is also severe in the automotive hubs of Chakan in Pune and Chennai, the people said. With the slowdown showing little or no signs of bottoming out, hiring from local engineering colleges in the region has also taken a beating.
The Gurugram-Manesar hub houses two factories of maruti Suzuki india Ltd, the country’s largest carmaker, and one each of honda Motorcycle and Scooters india Pvt. Ltd (HMSI) and Hero MotoCorp. Ltd (HMC). The downtrend has also trickled down to the logistics sector as lower vehicle production has drastically hit the utilization of trucks, leading to an increase in non-performing loans in the sector.
