Maruti Suzuki to shut operations at Haryana plants for 2 days

India's biggest automobile manufacturer Maruti Suzuki on Wednesday said it has decided to shut down passenger vehicle manufacturing operations in two Haryana-based plants.

The carmaker, in a statement to stock exchanges, announced that its Gurugram and Manesar plants in Haryana will remain shut on September 7 and 9 and both days will be observed as no production days.

"Maruti Suzuki India Limited has decided to shut down the passenger vehicle manufacturing operations of Gurugram Plant and Manesar Plant in Haryana for two days, on 7th and 9th September, 2019," the company said in an exchange filing.

Like most automakers in the country, Maruti Suzuki is also facing a slump in sales and recorded a 33 per cent drop in sales in August. The company has cut its vehicle production in August by over 33 per cent citing weaker demand.

This is the seventh month when the carmaker has witnessed a decline in sales. The last time the company had reported positive sales figures was in January 2019, when sales increased by only 0.2 per cent. However, there has been a constant drop in sales since then.

However, Maruti Suzuki is not the only company which has cut down on production. Several other top car manufacturers in India have downsized production in the wake of weak consumer demand and an economic slowdown.

With the auto sector facing a decline for the tenth straight month in August, companies are laying off many workers involved in manufacturing. Some of them, like Maruti Suzuki, temporarily halted production to keep costs in check, reported news agency Reuters.

Japanese carmaker Toyota Motors and South Korea's Hyundai Motors had also halted production temporarily at plants to combat slumping sales.