Auto component maker Bosch is suspending production at its Jaipur and Bangalore plants on specific days this month with an aim to prevent inventory pile up due to slowdown in domestic commercial vehicle segment.
"For the last 3-4 months, the commercial vehicle segment is not doing as good as we had expected. We are suspending production for a short period of time as stocks were going up. We don't want the inventory to pile up," Bosch Ltd Managing Director V K Viswanathan told PTI.
The company, however, is expecting good demand from the passenger vehicle segment in the coming festive season, he added.
Viswanathan said the company is primarily undertaking this exercise to reduce production of fuel injection systems.
The company has decided to shut the Jaipur plant fully on September 8, 15, 22 and 29, while the Bangalore unit will be partially closed on September 8, 17, 18, 22 and 29.
Bosch, which is one of the major suppliers to CV makers, including Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, is feeling the pinch of the slowdown in the Indian trucks and buses market.
According to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers data, commercial vehicle sales in April-July period has grown by only 4.74 per cent to 2,48,223 units from 2,36,988 units in the same period last year.
Yet, the major segment, medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment sales have declined by 12.75 per cent in this fiscal to 89,226 units from 1,02,264 units in the year-ago period.
When asked about the payment and leave arrangement with the workers during the production cut, Viswanathan said: "We have discussed with them the issue and it has been done in negotiation with our workers."
He, however, did not share details of the arrangement with workers at the two plants.
Bosch has manufacturing facilities in Bangalore, Nashik, Jaipur and Goa.